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France and Britain can plausibly claim to have the longest-running national rivalry in the history of the world. With brief intermissions, the competition between France and England has been going on for nearly seven centuries, since the hundred years war. The very identity of Britishness, on which Gordon Brown is so keen, was forged in the 18th- and early 19th-century conflict with France. Britain invented itself as the anti-France.

This grand rivalry should continue for another seven centuries - on the football pitch and the rugby field. In politics, it has had its day, and must be replaced by a strategic partnership.…  Seguir leyendo »

Tony Blair leaves office still a romantic, a leader who tried to do too much and failed because his ambitions were so high. Jacques Chirac's legacy is that of a political cynic who failed by trying to do too little.The British prime minister has announced that on June 27, he will quit the unassuming townhouse at 10 Downing Street that he has occupied for 10 years. The French president departs from the majestic Elysee Palace this week after 12 years. Both leave in the same condition: politically scarred and deeply unpopular at home after sparkling beginnings.

These two leaders could have changed Europe and perhaps the world had they been able to work together.…  Seguir leyendo »

In the Blair government there are no nuances or doubts about the French presidential run-off. We are rooting for Nicolas Sarkozy, they say, and they mean it. From Downing Street Sarkozy is seen as everything that Jacques Chirac is not. A Sarkozy victory, they believe there, would mean an end to Chirac's anti-Americanism, a short practical treaty in place of the EU constitution, and the prospect of greater flexibility on trade, regulation and the European budget. So dazzling are these prizes after the frustrations of the past that the major uncongenial aspects of a Sarkozy win - his hostility to Turkey, his protectionism and his support for the CAP - are simply ignored.…  Seguir leyendo »

Recientemente han asumido el poder nuevos gobiernos en varios Estados miembros de la UE; en otros, es inminente un cambio de dirección. En los últimos 15 meses ha llegado al poder un nuevo gobierno en Alemania, Italia y Suecia. En los Países Bajos, tras las elecciones de noviembre de 2006, se está formando una nueva coalición de gobierno.Y, por supuesto, es casi seguro que el presidente Chirac y el primer ministro Blair dejen sus cargos en el primer semestre de 2007.

En este contexto, pedimos a expertos de Alemania, Francia, Italia, los Países Bajos, Suecia y el Reino Unido que examinaran cómo estos cambios políticos están cambiando, o podrían cambiar, la política exterior de sus respectivos Estados.…  Seguir leyendo »

Can you hear the ground shaking beneath your feet? The Louvre is to open a permanent gallery dedicated to British art in the spring of 2008 - a revolution in the world of museums. Since 2001, the French institution has been spending millions on British watercolours, snapping them up at auctions, in order to plug the gaps in its own collection.Until very recently, British art was never properly curated in France's first gallery, the most visited in the world. Currently only 20 or so pictures by British artists hang on the Louvre's walls, though, according to Olivier Meslay, the museum's new curator for British art, it's even worse elsewhere on the continent.…  Seguir leyendo »

Much was made yesterday of Radio 4s enchanting scoop: a document showing that in 1956 the French Prime Minister, Guy Mollet, asked Anthony Eden for formal union between the UK and France. When Eden blushingly turned him down (“Why, M Mollet! this is so sudden!”) the importunate Frenchman offered to join the Commonwealth and thought “there need be no difficulty over France accepting the headship of Her Majesty”. On being told this by the BBC reporter, a professor of history at the Sorbonne went into an outbreak of stuttering hysteria — “Preposterous! . . .” It didn’t happen. A year later France chummed up with Germany instead for the long march to the present-day EU.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Isabella Thomas, senior adviser to the Ax:son Johnson Foundation (THE TIMES, 08/10/06):

The French used to bow. We gave it up for shaking hands. They replied by kissing friends on both cheeks. This need to differ is so instinctive that even when France and Britain begin to agree, they do so in such a way that instead of converging, they change positions.

One sees when it comes to the question of the integration of immigrants in French and British societies. Just as the British are beginning to see the weaknesses in multiculturalism, the French are taking to it.

The French tradition has been to establish as soon as possible that the newcomer is a French citizen in all dimensions.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Naima Bouteldja, a researcher for the Transnational Institute and Stuart Hodkinson, a research fellow at Leeds University (THE GUARDIAN, 17/05/06):

In a political gesture that marks the beginning of a long-overdue apology for its role in what is arguably Europe's greatest collective crime, France has this month held its first national day of remembrance for the victims of slavery. The official commemoration stems from the historic events of May 23 1998, when 45,000 people, mostly descendants of enslaved Africans born in the Caribbean, silently marched on the Place de la Nation in Paris to mark the 150th anniversary of France's 1848 abolition of slavery.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Theodore Dalrymple (THE TIMES, 30/03/06):

THE SIGHT OF MILLIONS of Frenchmen, predominantly young, demonstrating in deep sympathy and solidarity with themselves, is one that will cause amusement and satisfaction on the English side of the Channel. Everyone enjoys the troubles of his neighbours. And at least our public service strikers just stay away from work, and spend the day peacefully performing the rites of their religion, DIY, and not making a terrible nuisance of themselves. In fact, many of them are probably less of a public nuisance if they stay at home than if they go to work.

Of course, demonstrating in huge numbers is what the French do from time to time.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Marcel Berlins (THE GUARDIAN, 27/03/06):

It was a strange time for Charles Clarke to express his preference for the French inquisitorial system of criminal justice over the English accusatorial model, as he did last week to a Commons select committee.France has just undergone a gigantic miscarriage of justice, the Outreau affair, a direct consequence of the inquisitorial system. Even President Jacques Chirac, not usually known for rubbishing French institutions, called it an unprecedented judicial disaster. The debate in France is about the desirability of moving towards the English process.

In Outreau, near Boulogne, 13 local people were accused of sexually abusing children.…  Seguir leyendo »

By Stuart Jeffries (THE GUARDIAN, 25/03/06):

Even before we get down to talking about the always intense and troubled relationship between the British and the French, the Cambridge history don Robert Tombs manages to have a run-in with the French waiter. "How would you like your lamb?" "Rare, please," says Tombs. There is a pause while the waiter digests the gastronomic barbarism of these words. "You should not have lamb rare, because it upsets the stomach," says the waiter. "But I have a strong stomach," says Tombs, slightly abashed. The waiter doesn't give a Gallic shrug, but makes a moue that eloquently expresses just what he thinks about that.…  Seguir leyendo »

Por Tariq Ramadan, profesor invitado de Estudios Islámicos en el Saint Anthony's College de la Universidad de Oxford. Traducción de M. Sampons (EL PAÍS, 12/11/05):

Los disturbios de Clichy y de los suburbios próximos despiertan un gran interés en Inglaterra. Se trata de entender los "fallos del sistema francés de integración". Es un escenario inverso al del verano pasado cuando, después de los atentados del 7 de julio en Londres, en Francia se analizaban las fracturas del multiculturalismo británico. Todo ocurre como si a cada lado del Canal de la Mancha se intentara dar fe de las propias dudas apoyándose con gran certeza en las deficiencias del otro.…  Seguir leyendo »