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Lord Anderson of Swansea asks whether the government has any proposals to build on the recent treaties with France on bilateral co-operation by exploring initiatives for diplomatic and foreign policy co-operation.
The background to the recent defence treaty with France is the downsizing of French and British military forces as a result of financial pressures. Our two countries have the largest forces in the EU and account for about two-thirds of the European military research and development spend. They have successfully worked together in theatres such as the Balkans and built up much mutual respect.
Some of these same conditions, particularly the financial pressures, apply in the fields of diplomacy and foreign policy and have led to planned reductions in diplomatic personnel and posts. Yet there appears to be nothing on the agenda on the lines of the bilateral defence treaties.
The purpose of the question, therefore, is to stimulate debate about the possibilities of more formalised co-operation in these fields. Over ten years ago Robin Cook, then foreign secretary, and his French counterpart Hubert Vedrine, co-chaired a meeting of French and British ambassadors in West Africa where our colonial histories intertwine. There have since been limited exchanges of diplomatic personnel such as in Accra and Lome, but that symbolic initiative has not developed as many of us had hoped.
In some areas our two countries have by far the strongest interests and connections of our other EU partners. Take West Africa again, where there are many unstable countries in the Sahel, and further afield such as Chad, the Ivory Coast and the Central African Republic where terrorist organisations are growing in strength and there is a serious danger of the contagion spreading throughout the region. Here and elsewhere we surely need the very closest bilateral co-operation.
Again, because of financial pressures British ambassadors will increasingly be accredited to several countries and there may well be further reductions in posts. At present, for example, Madagascar is covered at very long distance by our high commissioner in Mauritius. Why should one or more UK-based diplomat not be located in the French embassy in Tananarive? Why should there not be co-location in several diplomatic posts, with perhaps the addition of our German partners and the European External Action Service? Why should our National Security Council and the Elysée not have a more formalised linkage? Why should the Commonwealth, which has several countries with large French-speaking minorities including Canada, Rwanda and Mauritius, not develop a much closer and formalised relationship with La Francophone?
All these matters merit serous consideration in my judgment – hence the question.
Lord Anderson of Swansea was Labour MP for Monmouth from 1966 to 70, and Swansea East from 1974 to 2005. He was made a life peer in 2005.
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