UK-France relationship set to stay testy with Truss

PARIS: There is little chance of Britain resetting relations with France under incoming prime minister Liz Truss, experts say, with the neighbours’ geographical proximity and sometimes diverging interests making for a testy post-Brexit relationship.

Truss played on tense cross-Channel ties during the Conservative party leadership election, declaring, “The jury’s out” when asked whether French President Emmanuel Macron was a “friend or foe”.

It was the latest in a string of barbs at Paris from UK leaders that have at times exasperated the French. “The United Kingdom is a friendly, strong and allied nation, regardless of its leaders, and sometimes in spite of its leaders,” Macron later responded.

“(Truss’s) pitch to the party faithful is that she’s going to be very tough on Europe and very tough particularly on Macron, because that plays well with the Conservative base,” former British ambassador to Paris Peter Ricketts told AFP.

Led since 2017 by the passionately pro-EU Macron, Britain’s historic rival France has become a preferred scapegoat for post-Brexit tensions.

 

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