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Local France
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Local France
New ‘entente amicale' lauded on first day of French President's UK state visit
Charles used a speech to around 160 guests and other royals at a lavish banquet in Windsor Castle to warn that their alliance was as crucial as ever amid a 'multitude of complex threats'. 'I really believe in the friendship between the United Kingdom and France,' he told those seated at a long single table inside the castle's vast medieval St George's Hall, including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and music icons Elton John and Mick Jagger. 'I believe that it's essential in order to preserve our freedoms and peace in Europe,' Charles added, alternating between French and English. He concluded by toasting a new UK-France 'entente... no longer just cordiale, but now amicale', prompting Macron to laud 'this entente amicale that unites our two fraternal peoples in an unwavering alliance'. Hours earlier, in a speech in parliament, the French president had adopted a similar tone, saying that the two countries must work together to defend the post-World War II 'international order'. In a wide-ranging half-hour address in English, Macron vowed that European countries would 'never abandon Ukraine' in its war with Russia, while demanding an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. He also urged London to work together with France on recognising a Palestinian state, calling it 'the only path to peace'. The French president and his wife Brigitte landed in London in the late morning, with heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, greeting them on the tarmac. Advertisement They then received a warm, pomp-filled welcome from francophile Charles and Queen Camilla in Windsor, as a 41-gun salute sounded from Home Park. The entourage enjoyed a royal carriage procession through the town, which was decked out in French Tricolore and British Union flags, before entering the castle for lunch. The first such visit by an EU head of state since the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the European Union. It is also the first by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. Touching on Brexit in his speech in Britain's parliament – following in the footsteps of predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand – Macron called it 'deeply regrettable' but said that the 2016 referendum's result was respected abroad. The French president was due to hold several meetings with Starmer starting on Wednesday. After taking power in 2024, the UK leader has been making good on his pledge to reset relations with European capitals following years of Brexit-fuelled tensions. Their discussions are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending, as well as joint efforts to stop migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats – a potent political issue in Britain. Starmer is under intense pressure to curb the cross-Channel arrivals, as Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party uses the issue to fuel its rise. London has for years pressed Paris to do more to halt the boats leaving from northern French beaches, welcoming footage last Friday showing French police stopping one such boat from departing. Macron on Tuesday called it 'a burden for our two countries', stressing the need for 'cooperation' to 'fix' it. The visit also aims to boost trade and business ties, with Paris and London announcing on Tuesday that French energy giant EDF will have a 12.5 percent stake in new British nuclear power plant Sizewell C. Advertisement There is also a cultural dimension, with another announcement that France will loan the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum for 10 months from September 2026. The loan of the embroidery depicting the 1066 Norman conquest of England will be made in exchange for ancient 'treasures' mainly from the Anglo-Saxon Sutton Hoo site, one of England's most important archaeological finds. On Wednesday, Macron will have lunch with Starmer before the two leaders co-host Thursday's 37th Franco-British Summit, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties. Britain and France are spearheading talks amongst a 30-nation coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces. The two leaders will dial in to a meeting of the coalition on Thursday 'to discuss stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia', Starmer's office confirmed on Monday. They will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to the French presidency.
Observer
08-07-2025
- Business
- Observer
France's Macron kicks off 'historic' UK state visit
WINDSOR: French President Emmanuel Macron received a warm and pomp-filled welcome on Tuesday from King Charles III as he began a three-day state visit to Britain, the first by an EU head of state since Brexit. Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, hailed an "important moment for our two nations" after landing and heading straight for Windsor, west of London, to meet the British monarch. "Together, we will address the major challenges of our time: security, defence, nuclear energy, space, innovation, artificial intelligence, migration, and culture," he posted on X. The French leader added that Paris and London were seeking to "deepen our cooperation in a concrete, effective, and lasting way". The first state visit by an EU head of state since the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the European Union, it is also the first by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. During his visit, Macron will hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. After taking power in 2024, the British leader has been making good on his pledge to reset relations with European capitals following years of Brexit-fuelled tensions. Their discussions are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending, as well as joint efforts to stop migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats — a potent political issue in Britain. Calling the visit "historic", Starmer's office said it would showcase "the breadth of the existing relationship" between Britain and France. Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted off the presidential plane on Tuesday at an air base northwest of London by heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales. In a stylistic nod to her guests, the princess wore a Christian Dior jacket. A short time later Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, warmly welcomed the entourage to Windsor, amid a full display of British pomp and pageantry. The Francophile king, who is believed to enjoy a warm rapport with Macron, could be seen chatting with him enthusiastically during their early interactions. Charles made a 2023 state visit to France, one of his first after ascending the throne and widely regarded as a success. After a 41-gun salute sounded from nearby Home Park and a royal carriage procession through the town, which was decked out in French Tricolores and British Union flags, the group entered the castle for lunch. They returned there later for a state banquet in the vast medieval St George's Hall, when in a speech Charles is set to laud the vital partnership between France and the UK amid a "multitude of complex threats". "As friends and as allies, we face them together," he will say, according to Buckingham Palace. Before that, Macron will follow in the footsteps of predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand by addressing lawmakers in the UK parliament. The visit also aims to boost trade and business ties, with Paris and London announcing on Tuesday that French energy giant EDF will have a 12.5-stake in new British nuclear power plant Sizewell C. On Wednesday, Macron will have lunch with Starmer and the two leaders will on Thursday co-host the 37th Franco-British Summit, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties. Britain and France are spearheading talks amongst a 30-nation coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces. The two leaders will dial in to a meeting of the coalition on Thursday "to discuss stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia", Starmer's office confirmed on Monday. They will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to the French presidency. Irregular migration is also set to feature in talks between Macron and Starmer. The British leader is under intense pressure to curb cross-Channel arrivals, as Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party uses the issue to fuel its rise. London has for years pressed Paris to do more to halt the boats leaving from northern French beaches, welcoming footage last Friday showing French police stopping one such boat from departing. — AFP
New Indian Express
08-07-2025
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Macron urges new era of Anglo-French unity in address to UK parliament
WINDSOR: President Emmanuel Macron argued Tuesday that France and Britain must work together to defend the post-World War II "international order", as he addressed parliament on the first day of his UK state visit. The first such visit by an EU head of state since Brexit, Macron said in a wide-ranging speech that the two countries must renew their century-old alliance to face down an array of threats. "As permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, deeply committed to multilateralism, the United Kingdom and France must once again show the world that our alliance can make all the difference," he told British lawmakers, speaking in English. "Clearly, we have to work together... to protect the international order as we fought (for) it after the Second World War," Macron added. Touching on various thorny issues, from global conflicts to irregular cross-Channel migration, he insisted European countries will "never abandon Ukraine" in its war with Russia while demanding an unconditional ceasefire in Gaza. Hours earlier, the French president and his wife Brigitte had received a warm, pomp-filled welcome from King Charles III and Queen Camilla in Windsor as the three-day visit got underway. They had been greeted off the presidential plane at an air base northwest of London by heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales. After a 41-gun salute sounded from Windsor's Home Park and a royal carriage procession through the town, which was decked out in French Tricolores and British Union flags, the group entered its castle for lunch.
Bangkok Post
08-07-2025
- Business
- Bangkok Post
France's Macron begins ‘historic' UK state visit
WINDSOR, England - French President Emmanuel Macron received a warm and pomp-filled welcome on Tuesday from King Charles III as he began a three-day state visit to Britain, the first by an EU head of state since Brexit. Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte, hailed an 'important moment for our two nations' after landing and heading straight for Windsor, west of London, to meet the British monarch. 'Together, we will address the major challenges of our time: security, defence, nuclear energy, space, innovation, artificial intelligence, migration, and culture,' he posted on X. The French leader added that Paris and London were seeking to 'deepen our cooperation in a concrete, effective, and lasting way'. The first state visit by an EU head of state since the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the European Union, it is also the first by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. During his visit, Macron will hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer. After taking power in 2024, the British leader has been making good on his pledge to reset relations with European capitals following years of Brexit-fuelled tensions. Their discussions are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending, as well as joint efforts to stop migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats — a potent political issue in Britain. Calling the visit 'historic', Starmer's office said it would showcase 'the breadth of the existing relationship' between Britain and France. Windsor pomp Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted off the presidential plane Tuesday at an air base northwest of London by heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales. In a stylistic nod to her guests, the princess wore a Christian Dior jacket. A short time later Charles and his wife, Queen Camilla, warmly welcomed the entourage to Windsor, amid a full display of British pomp and pageantry. The Francophile king, who is believed to enjoy a warm rapport with Macron, could be seen chatting with him enthusiastically during their early interactions. Charles made a 2023 state visit to France, one of his first after ascending the throne and widely regarded as a success. After a 41-gun salute sounded from nearby Home Park and a royal carriage procession through the town, which was decked out in French Tricolores and British Union flags, the group entered the castle for lunch. They will return there later for a state banquet in the vast medieval St George's Hall, when in a speech Charles is set to laud the vital partnership between France and the UK amid a 'multitude of complex threats'. 'As friends and as allies, we face them together,' he will say, according to Buckingham Palace. Before that, Macron will follow in the footsteps of predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand by addressing lawmakers in the UK parliament. The visit also aims to boost trade and business ties, with Paris and London announcing Tuesday that French energy giant EDF will have a 12.5-stake in new British nuclear power plant Sizewell C. 'Support for Ukraine' On Wednesday, Macron will have lunch with Starmer and the two leaders will on Thursday co-host the 37th Franco-British Summit, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties. Britain and France are spearheading talks amongst a 30-nation coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces. The two leaders will dial in to a meeting of the coalition on Thursday 'to discuss stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia', Starmer's office confirmed on Monday. They will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to the French presidency. Irregular migration is also set to feature in talks between Macron and Starmer. The British leader is under intense pressure to curb cross-Channel arrivals, as Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party uses the issue to fuel its rise. London has for years pressed Paris to do more to halt the boats leaving from northern French beaches, welcoming footage last Friday showing French police stopping one such boat from departing. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Macron will use the visit to announce an update on his previous offer to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain. It emerged in 2018 that he had agreed to loan the embroidery, which depicts the 1066 Norman conquest of England, but the move has since stalled. The UK government said Monday that it continued to 'work closely with our counterparts in France on its planned loan'.
The National
16-06-2025
- Politics
- The National
Working class solidarity the only answer to Ballymena riots
The hate-filled attacks on ethnic minorities and immigrants unleashed in this medium-sized town – population just over 30,000 – have spread to other towns and villages as nights go by, including Larne, Portadown, Coleraine and parts of Belfast and Derry cities. People who have settled in Ballymena, particularly since the 1990s ceasefires, cower in their homes, barricade front doors with sofas and hide in their bedrooms and attics as thugs break down those doors, smash windows and try to set fire to homes with children in them. Amid arson attacks and assaults on men, women and children, we see a grisly re-invention of the Biblical story of the Passover, in this former heartland of the late 'hellfire-and-damnation' sectarian leader the Rev Ian Paisley. In the book of Exodus, God allegedly is said to have told the Jews to smear their doors with the blood of a sacrificial lamb so he would 'pass over' their homes while smiting the Egyptians with his wrath, murdering their first born. READ MORE: Tories rage as Scottish primary head suggests Union flag is 'sectarian' In this real-life 2025 version, people who made Ballymena their home, with their kids making friends with the children of parents born locally, are posting national flags on their doors – sometimes British Union flags but accompanied by the flags of the Philippines, Bulgaria, Poland etc – trying to avoid being mistaken for being Romanian. This is because the latter were the primary targets, at least initially, of the hate-filled rioters. What led to Ballymena being projected on to the world's TV screens? The immediate background was the alleged sexual assault on a 14-year-old girl in the town and the arrest of two boys of Romanian background, also 14, who denied the allegation against them. An estimated 2500 people gathered in a peaceful protest at this vile sexual assault – but then a breakaway crowd of several hundred went on the rampage, launching arson attacks on homes and cars, smashing the doors and windows of the homes of immigrants and ethnic minorities. There was also prolonged rioting, with masonry and firebombs thrown at police officers. (Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire) Whatever proportion of the initial crowd which gathered at the demonstration was there out of genuine concern at the inexcusable crime of sexual violence, vicious far-right forces used their substantial reach on social media to incite openly racist violence, particularly, but not exclusively, by young people. Underlying those immediate triggers is the worldwide phenomenon of decades of disappointment and betrayal by mainstream capitalist parties of what we've dubbed the 'extreme centre', who carry out neoliberal capitalist assaults on working-class communities, and the failure of the dominant leaderships of the mass organisations of the working class to adequately confront this with a fighting, inspiring socialist alternative, leading to the upsurge of far-right formations. We see that with the rise of Donald Trump in the US; the growth of far right and even fascist forces around the AFD in Germany and Marine Le Pen's French equivalent; and of course, the multi-millionaire and arch-Thatcherite Nigel Farage in Britain. Capitalist rule, regardless of party label, has failed working-class people worldwide and, in the absence of mass socialist forces, into the vacuum steps the evangels of red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalism, dressed up in populist slogans and ruthless racist scapegoating of immigrants and ethnic minorities. Northern Ireland is by no means immune from these trends. In the South Republic over the last few years, far-right forces literally wrapped up in the Irish tricolour and spouting an extreme version of Irish nationalism, have burnt down buildings housing asylum seekers – then put on their suits and tried to get elected to the Dail and local councils. Having been largely frustrated on that front – certainly at Dail level, although they got big votes and several councillors elected – they have now reverted to the politics of street violence. That's the case in big cities such as Dublin and Cork, but also in some of the border area's neighbouring towns in the north of Ireland, including Derry and Newry. Last August, during race-hate riots in Belfast, we saw the grotesque spectacle of far-right racist nationalists from Dublin, waving the Irish tricolour, joining forces with far-right racist loyalists hoisting the Union flag – a grisly embrace across the sectarian divide by two forms of the same reactionary forces. The far right in the North takes numerous forms, including openly fascist grouplets – and, it would appear in the case of the Ballymena riots, the South East Antrim UDA, the remnants of the previous mass loyalist paramilitary group. Ballymena was the first town in the North blighted by serious heroin addiction, making for lucrative trade for the UDA and others. It had a powerful industrial base, including big Michelin and Gallaher factories in the past, with strong union organisation. The local trade union movement was instrumental in organising united demonstrations of Protestant and Catholic workers against sectarian intimidation and killings during The Troubles and, more recently, Ballymena Trades Union Council countered far-right forces targeting migrant workers. In my youth, I had friends who were active in a vibrant Ballymena branch of the Young Socialists – young Protestants and Catholics together championing the cause of workers' unity and socialism. READ MORE: 'Scottish cringe' persists despite evidence of our distinctive culture But much of the industrial base in the town has been decimated, with Gallaher's and Michelin's factory closures about eight years ago, wiping out nearly 2000 jobs. This weakened the forces of the organised labour movement and lent itself to an atomisation of the working class, where vicious propagandists of the far-right can latch on to concerns and discontent and channel it towards brutal division and racism. Those who have incited and organised these attempted pogroms against Romanians and other ethnic minorities, in a town which didn't have a single asylum seeker funded in 2024, have absolutely no concern for the safety of women and girls. They are purely motivated by a desire to whip up division in the community. Violence against women, including sexual violence and rape, runs rampant across Northern Ireland – and the authorities fail to deal with it. It suffers the second-highest levels of femicide in Europe. In surveys, an astonishing 98% of women said they had suffered some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime. In that atmosphere, the cheap, deceitful slogan the far right have deployed in Ballymena and elsewhere, of 'keep our children safe', calling for demonstrations under the guise of 'concerned parents', undoubtedly chimes with the worries of decent working-class people. But the far-right instigators did nothing to demonstrate against the allegations of historical sexual offences against former Democratic Unionist Party leader Jeffrey Donaldson, nor claims of child sex abuse against Ballymena Traditional Unionist Voice councillor Davy Tweed in the 2010s. The one difference is the colour of the targets' skin. The far right have enlisted the services of rioters, including not just ideologically committed racists but also an element of alienated young people, who simply see this as an opportunity to have a go at PSNI officers. The immediate victims of this racist violence were ethnic minority and immigrant families – all of whom were either born in Ballymena or are legally recognised refugees, many of them working in local factories and agribusinesses. The wider losers are the broader working class, subjected to frenzied divisions and made all the weaker in their own self-defence against dilapidated housing conditions, cuts to services – including health; the North has the longest NHS waiting lists in the UK – and wages that are historically lower than in the rest of Britain for identical jobs. The most studiously buried history of the past 50-plus years in the North is that of several waves of united demonstrations and strike action by workers from all communities, against sectarian violence and deaths. At the height of tit-for-tat killings and bombings, workers across Northern Ireland came out on strike, staged rallies, drove back the paramilitaries and were instrumental in forcing sectarian politicians to reach the unstable institutional 'power-sharing' arrangements known as the Peace Process. Ballymena was one of the many towns and cities where those displays of workers' unity were staged – initiatives led by the cross-community trade union movement, the biggest civic organisation in the North, on most occasions under the pressure of socialist trade unionists who forced the hesitant leadership of the trade union officialdom to take action. That tradition of workers' unity in action is urgently required today to counter the attempted racist pogroms and to undercut the false appeal of the far right with a vision of socialist change – to win decent jobs, vastly improved public services, and high-quality housing for all, regardless of their creed, colour or country of birth. Encouraging beginnings of this counterforce to the rampaging racists have been organised over recent days. Trade unionists, community groups and socialists have staged counter-demos against the far-right in nearby Magherafelt, Derry, Belfast and elsewhere. (Image: Brian Lawless/PA Wire) Trade unionists and socialists in Scotland and beyond can and should assist those forces of working-class unity and help them combat the vile forces of the far right by advocating radical socialist change – a transfer of the wealth of Scotland, Britain and Ireland away from the millionaires to the millions, with the goal of socialism in these islands, where all citizens are treated as equals, living in peace and harmony. READ MORE: Scottish Winter Fuel Payments to match UK's after U-turn, John Swinney says The events of the past few days reinforce the beliefs I've held and fought for since my teens in County Fermanagh – for socialism not sectarianism; for action based on class not creed; for working-class unity in pursuit of a peaceful socialist future. The alternatives are all too ugly, as witnessed in last week's eruption of racist conflagration.
