French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held talks in Paris. Among the results of the meeting is a new agreement on cooperation in curbing illegal migration. Funding will be increased from London, the British treasury will allocate more than 220 billion euros over three years. The French side will undertake to strengthen the patrolling of the English Channel coastline.
The Paris summit took place days after the signing of a protocol on Northern Ireland between the UK and the European Union. In this regard, Macron welcomed the UK’s readiness to engage with the EU and, in the light of this “new turn”, expressed its readiness for further support for Ukraine. Addressing Sunak, he said: “After all, we share this position: Russia cannot and should not win this war,” Euronews quoted Macron as saying.
When the security of our continent is threatened, we will always be at the forefront of defense, assured British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. – We have agreed on the training of Ukrainian marines. And we will be able to give Ukraine a decisive advantage on the battlefield so that Ukraine will win this war.”
The previous Franco-British summit took place in 2018. Therefore, the current meeting is called by the European media “a new beginning in Franco-British relations. Sunak, in an interview with the French edition of Le Figaro, called Macron a “great friend” while the previous head of the British government, Liz Truss,” hesitated last summer whether to call Emmanuel Macron a friend. or an enemy,” Euronews notes.