An “amour fou” it is not. Thursday’s meeting between French President Macron and UK Prime Minister May will pit EU fervor against Euroskepticism. How will Brexit affect ties between the two countries?
“A Frenchman must be always talking, whether he knows anything of the matter or not; an Englishman is content to say nothing when he has nothing to say.”
That quote by 18th-century author and poet Samuel Johnson is a good marker to define the love-hate relationship between France and Britain over the centuries.
Georges Clemenceau, who had two stints as French prime minister during the Third Republic, also did his best to ensure there was little love lost when he remarked that “English is just badly pronounced French.”
Current French President Emmanuel Macron would probably beg to differ with Johnson’s assessment, especially given the mostly positive feedback he’s received for his EU “reset” plans, while UK Prime Minister Theresa May seems to have a lot to say without actually saying anything.
And while Macron’s gesture to loan the famed Bayeux Tapestry to Britain will be welcomed in the art scene, it might also raise a few hackles, depicting, as it does, the Battle of Hastings when William the Conqueror from France defeated English forces in southern England.
Traditionally, France and Britain have worked closely on defense and security issues within NATO and the EU and globally as Europe’s only members of the UN Security Council.
Will Britain’s exit from the EU curtail that cooperation? And what impact will Brexit have on their border and economic ties?
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