Date:11/05/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/05/11/stories/2003051101311400.htm

International

Britain, France work to ease tensions

By Hasan Suroor

LONDON MAY 10. After weeks of bitterness and publicly played out rows, Britain and France have said that they do not want their differences over Iraq to damage their "wider relations', signalling a quiet diplomacy by the two countries to prevent further damage to their strained relationship.

Leading the charm offensive are Britain's Minister for Europe, Denis MacShane, and his French counterpart, Noelle Lenoir, who have been engaged in a series of discussions, and in identical remarks on Friday, they sought to brush aside the recent controversies choosing, instead, to emphasise the "common ground''.

``If France and Britain fall out, no one in Europe will benefit,'' said Mr MacShane, echoing Ms Lenoir's comment that the row over Iraq "must not interrupt our wider relations''.

Ironically, their remarks in a joint interview came even as France and Germany were kept out of talks the Defence Secretary, Geoff Hoon, had with military heads of 15 countries here on Thursday on creating a stabilisation force for Iraq outside the U.N. or NATO framework. Recently, Britain was not invited to discussions France had with Germany and Luxembourg on European defence in what was seen here as a deliberate snub to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, but Ms Lenoir dismissed it as much ado about nothing.

Mr MacShane too tried to play down the reaction to the French-German-Luxembourg summit saying that in the heat over the Iraq crisis "more attention was paid to that meeting than it warranted''.

He denied that Britain and France were drifting apart and said that "on the issues that are of the highest importance, France and the U.K. are speaking as one''.

The French Minister, on her part, shrugged off the view that France wanted to set itself up as a rival to America, or undermine NATO's role but maintained, "Europe has to be a superpower — as strong as the United States because that is good for Europeans and good for the world, including Americans.''