UK says keeping open mind on Macron’s European summit

Britain will attend a French-driven European summit this week with “open eyes” even as it goes its own way after Brexit, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Liz Truss is to join the inaugural summit of the “European Political Community” in Prague on Thursday, after a bruising few days at the annual conference of her Conservative party.

The summit is the brainchild of French President Emmanuel Macron, as Europe grapples with the fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine including a continent-wide energy crisis.

Speaking at a conference fringe event, Cleverly heaped praise on Macron after Truss refused to say whether the president was a “friend or foe” to Britain since it quit the European Union.

Macron’s tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and his remarks when they conversed at her funeral in London, were “absolutely pitch-perfect”, the foreign secretary said.

“I have no doubt that we will find ways of working brilliantly closely with France, and I have no doubt we’ll find ways of having blazing rows with France, because that’s what the Brits and the French do, it’s our thing.”

Stressing “there is more to Europe than the EU”, Cleverly said the war in Ukraine had underlined the need for Western collaboration.

“I think having European countries finding ways to work together, whether on mutual security, economic security etc, etc, that’s certainly something we’ll go into with open eyes,” he said.

Britain and France have been at loggerheads over cross-Channel migrants, and also over post-Brexit trade involving Northern Ireland.

But Cleverly was positive about his contacts so far with EU envoy Maros Sefcovic on resolving tensions surrounding the “Northern Ireland Protocol”.

“The tone has improved, that is always a good sign,” he said.