Complementarity or Competition? Franco-British Cooperation and the European Horizon of French Defense Policy
What does future hold for the Franco-British defense partnership after Brexit?
France and the United Kingdom have, for long, enjoyed a close defense relationship, thanks in part to their analogous strategic cultures. The 2010 Lancaster House treaties built on this proximity to expand cooperation in the fields of nuclear weapons, force projection, interoperability and industrial integration. In spite of genuine progress in the first years following the treaties, the Franco-British strategic partnership has had to face two pitfalls: on the one hand, Brexit and its political consequences for the United Kingdom, and, on the other hand, President Macron’s attempt to revive European defense and Franco-German cooperation. The tenth anniversary of Lancaster House should offer the opportunity to rethink the convergence between bilateral cooperation and the resolutely European horizon of French defense policy.
This content is available in French: Complémentarité ou concurrence ? La coopération franco-britannique et l'horizon européen de la défense française.
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Complementarity or Competition? Franco-British Cooperation and the European Horizon of French Defense Policy
Alice PANNIER
Former Associate Research Fellow, Former Head of Ifri's Center for Geopolitics of Technology, Ifri
Security Studies Center
Heir to a tradition dating back to the founding of Ifri, the Security Studies Center provides public and private decision-makers as well as the general public with the keys to understanding power relations and contemporary modes of conflict as well as those to come. Through its positioning at the juncture of politics and operations, the credibility of its civil-military team and the wide distribution of its publications in French and English, the Center for Security Studies constitutes in the French landscape of think tanks a unique center of research and influence on the national and international defense debate.
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