An Entente In London

摘要

The most recent French president to pay a state visit to Britain, Jacques Chirac, had an inimitable way of referring to the British. "You can't trust people who have such terrible food," he once said. At one European summit he denounced Tony Blair's "selfish" attitude to farm spending and called his refusal to give up the British budget rebate "pathetic". How times have changed. The state visit on March 26th and 27th by Nicolas Sarkozy and his new wife, Carla Bruni, comes at a time of vastly improved mutual understanding.rnMr Sarkozy, who made a campaign stop in London last year, has often publicly admired Britain. He is close to Mr Blair, who shares his exuberant style-although relations with Gordon Brown, Mr Blair's successor, are businesslike rather than warm. The British are pleased that he wants to strengthen France's role in nato and is considering sending more troops to Afghanistan. The French, mindful of British Euroscepti-cism, are taking care not to push Europe's nascent defence project too hard before Britain ratifies the Lisbon treaty this summer. At their meeting, the two leaders will doubtless sound in tune on matters from development and immigration to defence and climate change.