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Relations between the United Kingdom and France have never exactly been plain sailing.
They were facing particularly choppy waters last year when French President Emmanuel Macron struck a hard stance on fishing rights during Brexit trade negotiations, and closed the border with the U.K. to keep out a coronavirus mutation found in the latter.
Awkwardly, the pair now find themselves working together to try and hammer out a deal to salvage the Eurostar, the cross-Channel rail operator that’s hemorrhaging cash as the pandemic drags on.
Could this be an opportunity to mend the fractured relationship?
Britain and France often work together, mainly on knotty issues around security and border control.
But Eurostar carries a different kind of “political symbolism,” said Karine Varley, a lecturer in modern French history at the University of Strathclyde. She explained: “When the Channel Tunnel was first opened, it was intended to open up new opportunities for British businesses in Europe.”
It would be in neither’s domestic interests for the operator to fail.
In the U.K., there are commuters in the Tory-voting southeast to think about.
“A solution to the Eurostar problem is also necessary for securing the financial position of the HS1 high-speed rail link between the Channel Tunnel and London. This is also used by regional high-speed rail services between towns in Kent and London,” according to Roger Vickerman, economics professor at the University of Kent.
A collapse could damage Macron’s pro-business credentials, a year before his first term in office comes to an end, Varley said.
“It would also damage Macron’s attempts to encourage passengers to switch from short-haul flights to travelling by train as part of his drive on the environment,” she added.
But Varley warned that in the short term, negotiations could worsen relations, as neither side sees the operator as their responsibility.
The U.K. government sold its stake in the company in 2015, leaving French rail operator SNCF as the majority owner. While Huw Merriman, the Tory chair of Britain’s transport committee, want a cross-Channel approach to helping Eurostar, Varley said many of the more hard-line members of the British government will be “resistant” to supporting a largely French-owned company.
Meanwhile, the French government is adamant that as a Britain-based company, Paris’ involvement should be limited. In France, the Eurostar is seen as benefiting Britain in enabling it to connect more easily with Europe, Varley said.
But while France’s transport minister said last week that France will “be there” for the operator, his British counterpart has largely kept schtum on the subject.
Labour peer Tony Berkeley, a European adviser to the Rail Freight Group, who worked as an engineer on the Channel Tunnel, suggested that the post-Brexit political climate in the U.K. makes Britain less likely to soften for its neighbor.
“Politically, why help anything that connects to France? It’s so naive and childish, but there we are.”
This insight is from POLITICO‘s Brexit Files newsletter, a daily afternoon digest of the best coverage and analysis of Britain’s decision to leave the EU available to Brexit Transition Pro subscribers. To request a trial, email [email protected].
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