British and French officials engaged in high-level defense talks have denied reports the two countries are considering sharing aircraft carriers, but are paving the way for unprecedented military cooperation, according to sources on both sides of the English Channel.
Speaking on the eve of talks in Paris between the British Defence Secretary Liam Fox and his French counterpart, Herve Morin, officials said plans were being drawn up in an attempt to save money, but maintain capabilities.
“We’re in a phase where we must absolutely synchronize our budget cuts so that, in the end, there’s no loss in our military capacities,” a senior French diplomat said.
However, British defense officials, irritated by reports of plans to “combine forces” and “share” ships, were keen to play down the significance of yesterday’s meeting. Morin is expected to be a victim of an imminent French government reshuffle.
“We will be looking at areas of closer cooperation between the two countries. But there are no plans to share carriers,” British officials said.
Officials are instead pointing to the significance of the Franco-British summit between British Prime Minister David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, due to be held in Britain on Nov. 5. In a keynote address to ambassadors last month, Sarkozy said France was prepared to undertake “concrete” defense projects with Britain.
“We will be discussing this with them without taboos in November,” Sarkozy said.
The results of the British government’s strategic defense and security review are expected to be announced before the November summit, making it easier for Cameron and Sarkozy to announce specific plans for cooperation.
Recent reports that the two countries were planning to share ships, notably aircraft carriers, have provoked a storm of protest.
Lord Boyce, the former first sea lord, said: “You cannot co-own an asset. It is totally impracticable and simply won’t work.”
French military officials have also expressed concerns about the practical problems involved, including different warship design. The countries also have different interests or have taken opposing positions on key international issues, including the Falklands Islands, former French colonies in Africa and the invasion of Iraq.
However, there are many potential areas of defense cooperation, which British and French officials have been working on intensely throughout the summer.
Britain is building two carriers at a cost of £5.2 billion (US$8 billion) that are to enter service in 2016 and 2018. They are unlikely to fall victim to the defense review, officials say, if only because £2 billion has already been spent on them and under the contracts with shipyards and the manufacturers BAE Systems, Babcock International and the French company Thales, scrapping them would save less than £1 billion.
France, which has one aircraft carrier, has delayed until next year a decision on whether to build a second one.
Instead of sharing carriers, Britain and France could ensure more effective cooperation on missions about which the two governments agree, officials say. These could include humanitarian operations such as those off Lebanon four years ago and in the Persian Gulf.
Polish presidential candidates offered different visions of Poland and its relations with Ukraine in a televised debate ahead of next week’s run-off, which remains on a knife-edge. During a head-to-head debate lasting two hours, centrist Warsaw Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, from Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s governing pro-European coalition, faced the Eurosceptic historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the right-wing populist Law and Justice party (PiS). The two candidates, who qualified for the second round after coming in the top two places in the first vote on Sunday last week, clashed over Poland’s relations with Ukraine, EU policy and the track records of their
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
‘A THREAT’: Guyanese President Irfan Ali called on Venezuela to follow international court rulings over the region, whose border Guyana says was ratified back in 1899 Misael Zapara said he would vote in Venezuela’s first elections yesterday for the territory of Essequibo, despite living more than 100km away from the oil-rich Guyana-administered region. Both countries lay claim to Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of Guyana’s territory and is home to 125,000 of its 800,000 citizens. Guyana has administered the region for decades. The centuries-old dispute has intensified since ExxonMobil discovered massive offshore oil deposits a decade ago, giving Guyana the largest crude oil reserves per capita in the world. Venezuela would elect a governor, eight National Assembly deputies and regional councilors in a newly created constituency for the 160,000
North Korea has detained another official over last week’s failed launch of a warship, which damaged the naval destroyer, state media reported yesterday. Pyongyang announced “a serious accident” at Wednesday last week’s launch ceremony, which crushed sections of the bottom of the new destroyer. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called the mishap a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Ri Hyong-son, vice department director of the Munitions Industry Department of the Party Central Committee, was summoned and detained on Sunday, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. He was “greatly responsible for the occurrence of the serious accident,” it said. Ri is the fourth person
RSS