Emmanuel Macron accused of stonewalling plans for Anglo-French summit

Figures on both sides of the Channel point to bad blood and recriminations across a range of policy areas including Brexit fishing rights, cross-Channel migration, the supply and safety of the AstraZeneca vaccine and Covid quarantine restrictions.

French ministers were incensed by what they saw as the government’s attempts to talk up the early success of the British vaccine programme — contrasting it with the EU’s faltering early steps.

But that was matched by London’s fury when Macron cast doubt on the efficacy and safety of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, claiming it was “quasi-ineffective” on people over 65.

The French were also displeased that Britain was not supportive behind the scenes in the row over the supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine to Europe — while ministers privately accused France of a tit-for-tat move to try to restrict exports of the Pfizer vaccine to Britain.

Things have not improved since then. In May, a small-scale row over fishing rights off the coast of Jersey rapidly deteriorated into an international incident after a French minister suggested that France could cut off supplies of electricity to the island.

This led Johnson to order a Royal Navy patrol vessel into the area that was swiftly followed by its French counterpart.

A month later at the G7 summit, Downing Street decided to ambush Macron by provocatively briefing out details of a private meeting with Johnson at which the French president was claimed to have said that Northern Ireland was a separate country from the UK. This infuriated the French, who claimed that the president’s comments had been deliberately misinterpreted.

More recently, the French side has accused the government of trying to blame Paris for the failure to stop cross-Channel migration routes and was furious at what it saw as the completely unjustified decision to put France on the quarantine red list.

This week it was London’s turn to be irritated after Thierry Breton, the French EU commissioner, decided to highlight the fact that Ireland now had a higher rate of Covid vaccination than the UK.

Sources in London and Paris say that cumulatively the separate incidents have led to a higher degree of mistrust between the sides than at any time in recent history.

“Both sides would acknowledge that the bilateral relationship is frayed and isn’t where we want it to be,” a senior government source said.

“There is a bit of a view that elements of the French system are basically crossing the street to pick a fight every day. Some of that is coming from the European Commission but we see it is being driven by French voices in the EU.

“We all want that barnacle off the boat. There is a huge desire on our side to be helpful.”

In an attempt to build bridges, the UK side is understood to have been pushing hard to arrange a date for a UK-French summit where both leaders and senior ministers could build on areas of co-operation.

French fishermen protested off the coast of Jersey in May over the loss of access to waters off their coast

OLIVER PINEL/AP

Traditionally such summits have taken place at least every two years — but the last was in January 2018 and despite intense diplomatic efforts, neither side can agree on a date or even an agenda.

Charles Grant, director of the Centre for European Reform, said the French were “definitely annoyed with the Brits” and this had led to a reluctance to agree to the bridge-building exercise.

“The British want a summit. The French say, ‘Great — so what should we talk about?’ The British say, ‘I don’t know — let’s have a summit.’ The French say, ‘No — we’ve got to have substance.’ ”

Lord Ricketts, a former ambassador to France and head of the diplomatic service, said that things were in pretty bad shape.

“The post-Brexit year has been a scratchy and difficult one. I suspect Macron was very surprised to come to Cornwall and find himself in a public row with Boris Johnson over sausages and Northern Ireland,” he said.

“He is in no great hurry to fix a summit with Boris Johnson. He doesn’t know what the man might say at the joint press conference and how it might turn out.”

Stephen Crabb, the former Conservative cabinet minister who chairs the all-party parliamentary group on France, said from talking to his counterparts in the French assembly it was clear there was “little oxygen” to create a better working relationship.

“There has been a toxic cocktail of issues that has really soured the relationship,” he said. “It is frustrating for people like me who want to see a better relationship develop.”

Crabb added that with French elections coming up and Macron facing a challenge from the Front Nationale, there was less room for manoeuvre.

“We really need that summit to kickstart a better atmosphere,” he said. “Meeting has to be better than not meeting.”

An Élysée source said: “It takes two to build a good relationship and the post-Brexit one has to be built by two countries that shared so much in terms of economic, personal and strategic links.

”As for the summit it is above all a question of substance and we must both work at that.”

The rows

Covid vaccine rollout
The British perspective:
Downing Street was furious when President Macron publicly cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of the AstraZeneca vaccine at a time when the government was attempting to ensure maximum uptake.

The French perspective
French ministers privately accused the UK of talking up the success of the UK’s vaccine programme to justify Brexit and revelling in the slow roll-out of vaccines across the EU.

Fishing
The British perspective
The Foreign Office was incensed when a French minister suggested that France could cut off supplies of electricity to Jersey unless the island allowed access to French fishermen.

The French perspective
The French claimed the government over-reacted to the comments and risked an unnecessary confrontation by sending an armed naval patrol vessel to the island.

Quarantine rules
The British perspective
The British were unhappy with a French decision last winter to require all hauliers to provide evidence of a negative Covid test before being able to cross the Channel. They worried that this — alongside Brexit — could cause serious disruption to supplies.

The French perspective
The French were equally angry and perplexed at a decision by the government last month to require travellers coming from France to quarantine — even if they had been double-vaccinated. They claimed this was not backed by any scientific evidence and seemed designed to put off British tourists from going to France.

Cross-Channel migrants
The British perspective
The British have been privately infuriated at the failure by France to stem the rising numbers of migrants crossing into the UK in small boats across the Channel — a politically toxic issue for the government.

The French perspective
The French point out that they are under no obligation to prevent migrants leaving France now that Britain was no longer a member of the EU, and that Britain was being ungracious about the efforts they were already making to tackle the problem.