French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will seek to reset cross-Channel relations at a meeting on Friday that signals an end to years of post-Brexit feuding.
While the two leaders have met on the sidelines of international events since Sunak came to power in October, the summit will be their first one-on-one visit.
It will also be the first Franco-British summit, which used to be held almost every year, since Macron met then PM Theresa May in 2018.
Following years of antagonism, especially under Boris Johnson, ties have improved markedly in recent months.
"We're renewing things at the moment, putting things back in order, and preparing for the future," an aide to Macron told reporters on Wednesday.
Migration deal on the cards
The new mood is expected to produce another deal to stem migration to the UK via the Channel, a political priority for both leaders.
The agreement would focus on "increasing the resources deployed to manage this common border, with multi-year financing", another aide to Macron told reporters.
France and the UK signed a deal in November that saw London agree to provide €72 million of funding to help boost security forces patrolling France's northern beaches.
A Downing Street source said: "Tackling illegal migration is a global challenge and it's vital we work with our allies, particularly the French, to prevent crossings and loss of life in the Channel."
Although Britain's departure from the European Union is expected to continue to create tension, recent developments – including an agreement to settle the trade status of Northern Ireland – have created goodwill.
King Charles III is also set to make France the destination for his first overseas trip as sovereign later this month in another statement of British outreach to France.
Defence cooperation
The two neighbours have also found common cause on Ukraine in supporting Kyiv's fight against the Russia invasion.
"The war in Ukraine has forced both countries to come together," Georgina Wright, a European politics expert at the Montaigne Institute, a Paris-based think tank, told French news agency AFP. "Clearly there's an attempt to build a relationship of trust."
New defence initiatives such as the joint training of Ukrainian soldiers, bolstering NATO defences in eastern Europe, or developing new weapons systems together are all set to form part of Friday's discussions.
"Defence cooperation remains the cornerstone of the bilateral relationship," the French Institute of Foreign Relations said in a research note ahead of the summit.
Mutual worries about China and Iran's nuclear programme are also seen as compelling reasons for resurrecting relations.
'Bromance'
Macron, 45, and Sunak, 42, appear eager to put the bad blood of previous years behind them.
At their first meeting in November on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Egypt, the two former investment bankers embraced so warmly and so frequently it led to light-hearted speculation about a "bromance".
"Friends, partners, allies," Sunak wrote as he tweeted a picture of them after the encounter.
Friends 🤝
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) November 7, 2022
Partners 🌍
Allies 🇬🇧🇫🇷
Great to meet with @EmmanuelMacron today at #COP27. pic.twitter.com/ZC32wKjvPU
It was an obvious reference to his predecessor Liz Truss, who said during her short-lived time in office that "the jury is out" on whether the French leader was a friend or foe of Britain.
Macron and Sunak have several things in common at a personal level: they are similar in age; their fathers were provincial medics; they were both privately educated; and each had a career in banking before entering politics.
Significant political differences remain, however, with Sunak a conservative Eurosceptic and free-marketeer, while Macron is fervently pro-EU and a believer in strong state intervention.
"I think there's a sense [in Paris] that the British prime minister is serious, that he's not looking to score political points, but I wouldn't exaggerate the bromance between them," added Wright.
(with AFP)
