Britain and France must shoulder burden of keeping Europe safe, Macron says in historic parliament address
Emmanuel Macron urged Britain and France “to shoulder the burden of European security” together as he appealed for the two nations to work more closely on issues including defence and the migrant crisis.
The French president delivered his remarks as the first European leader to receive a state visit to Britain and address both Houses of Parliament since Brexit was finalised in 2020.
In a passionate address, Mr Macron made clear the events that saw the UK leave the EU are in the past, and he hailed Sir Keir Starmer – whom he referred to as “dear Keir” – for his reset of the relations.
While he listed the economy, climate change and the immigration crisis as areas for cooperation, he put the need to defend Europe at the top of the agenda.
In particular, he asserted that Europe would “never accept that might is right” and would resist the Russian president’s attempts to subjugate Ukraine.
“Every time Vladimir Putin’s Russia advances in Ukraine, the threat moves closer to us all,” he warned, underlining the importance of a summit he and Sir Keir will host jointly on Thursday to help strengthen a “coalition of the willing” to ensure any peace settlement there.
However, with Nato members agreeing to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence and the US withdrawing its support under Donald Trump, President Macron said that the UK and France must be the pillars on which European defence is built.
He said: “Our two countries, the only European nuclear weapon states, the leading armed forces of the continent, together accounting for 40 per cent of European military budgets, both fully shoulder the responsibility when it comes to European security.
“And we are faced with new threats, with aggressive nuclear powers, with sometimes hesitating alliances, and the return of major conflict on our continent. This is why, in two days, our summit is so important, and the announcement we prepared so historical,” he said in an address to UK parliamentarians.
He said there is an expectation that the UK and France, “faced with revisionist neighbours”, have a “special responsibility for the security of the continent”.
While President Macron, who was accompanied by his wife Brigitte, said that Brexit was “deeply regrettable”, he celebrated the return of a close bond between the two countries, which he saw as the pivotal relationship in Europe.
He appealed to MPs and peers gathered in the Royal Gallery to “not let the Channel grow any wider”.
In a sideswipe at populists, the European statesman, who has refused to meet Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, also drew inspiration from Winston Churchill’s vision of “a world order based on law, justice and respect for territorial integrity” that was “today being attacked on a daily basis as we witness direct attacks on our democracies, the return of war on our continent, the resurgence of imperial impulses and the flouting of international rules by destabilising powers”.
He also hailed an exchange of museum artefacts, which will see the Bayeux Tapestry displayed in the British Museum next year and the Sutton Hoo treasure to go to France, “as the beginning of this new era of exchange and the reopening of these mutual movements”.
