French President addresses Houses of Parliament

The President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, has ended his historic visit to the UK calling for a ‘Franco-British Brotherhood’ to help drive democracy and freedom throughout the world.

Throughout the centuries Britain and France have often been at loggerheads; the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar are all ingrained in our collective consciousness. But the truth is that more often than not we have depended on each other. Two World Wars decimated the European continent and proved the futility of isolationism, and the vulnerability of nation states acting alone.

As members of the European Union with particular global outlooks, Britain and France are in a strong position to help forge an EU which can be a force for good in the world. There is a raft of issues from climate change to global terrorism which can be dealt with only at a multinational level. Our close alliance with France, the United States as well as other member states of the EU means we can achieve far more in delivering international aid and cutting carbon emissions then we could ever do on our own.

When Mr Sarkozy spoke to both Houses of Parliament he told MPs and Peers that ‘Europe needs the United Kingdom and the United Kingdom needs Europe.’ It is vital that we heed those words; we ignore them at our peril. We should listen to these words and not to the Tory Euro-sceptic agenda with its inevitable consequences for Britain and Europe’s place in the world.