The Ambiguities of Franco-British Defense Cooperation

Author (Person)
Publisher
Series Title
Series Details 18.01.18
Publication Date 18/01/2018
Content Type

Commentary feature in which author suggested that while Europe needed more military cooperation between London and Paris, the prospects for significant joint action in the future appeared slim.

The Commentary was written in the context of the holding of the 35th UK-France Summit, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, 18 January 2018.

Background

The 35th UK-France Summit took place in Sandhurst, UK, on 18 January 2018. Created in 1976 the France-British Summit is a regular meeting between the President of France and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and their government ministers.

Its objective is to strengthen strategic bilateral cooperation in the following areas:

+ Defence
+ Security
+ Counter-terrorism
+ Energy
+ Climate and environment
+ Education
+ Research and innovation

The 2018 Summit took place in the context of the UK negotiating to leave the European Union (Brexit), with Britain claiming it still wanted to maintain a close security relationship with its European partners, and President's Macron's European Intervention Initiative.

Source Link Link to Main Source http://carnegieeurope.eu/strategiceurope/75298?lang=en
Related Links
United Kingdom: Department for Exiting the European Union: Foreign policy, defence and development: a future partnership paper (GOV.UK, 2017) http://www.europeansources.info/record/foreign-policy-defence-and-development-a-future-partnership-paper/
European Leadership Network: Commentary, 23.11.17: Macron’s 'European Intervention Initiative': More Questions than Answers http://www.europeansources.info/record/macrons-european-intervention-initiative-more-questions-than-answers/
RUSI: Briefing Paper, 15.01.18: National Security Relations with France after Brexit https://rusi.org/publication/briefing-papers/national-security-relations-france-after-brexit
The Guardian, 15.01.18: UK and France may drift apart after Brexit, warns former ambassador https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/jan/15/uk-and-france-may-drift-apart-after-brexit-warns-former-ambassador
France24, 18.01.18: Terrorism, migration top the agenda of UK summit with Macron and May http://www.france24.com/en/20180118-terrorism-migration-brexit-top-agenda-uk-summit-macron-may
UK: GOV.UK: Policy Paper: UK-France Summit 2018: documents https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-france-summit-2018-documents
UK: GOV.UK: News, 18.01.18: UK to step up French operations in Africa as PM and President Macron meet for UK-France Summit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-to-step-up-french-operations-in-africa-as-pm-and-president-macron-meet-for-uk-france-summit
BBC News, 18.01.18: What now for UK-France security relations? http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42723121
UK: GOV.UK: News, 02.11.10: UK-France Defence Co-operation Treaty announced, November 2017 https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-france-defence-co-operation-treaty-announced--2

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