UK prime minister Liz Truss has sought to increase co-operation with France as she and French president Emmanuel Macron released a joint statement reaffirming ties between the two countries.
After meeting Macron at the first summit of the new European Political Community in Prague, Truss hailed Macron a “friend” as the two set out plans to stop migrants attempting to cross the Channel from France to the UK in small boats.
Truss had drawn controversy during the Conservative leadership campaign, when she said the “jury is out” on whether Macron was a friend of the UK.
But now, Macron said that the joint statement marked the beginning of what he hoped would be a “new phase” in the post-Brexit relationship between the two nations.
He said: “We have values and history so I'm happy that we meet again.
"This is an island, but this island didn't move from the rest of the continent, so we do have so many things in common."
The move to establish more cordial relations comes after the UK and France have been at odds over a string of issues on top of the migrant crossings.
Flashpoints include the post-Brexit situation in Northern Ireland, tensions with French border forces over long queues of people left waiting to depart the port of Dover earlier this summer, and a military pact that the UK struck with the US and Australia.
As well as migration, energy and security were on the agenda of the summit this week, as was the conflict in Ukraine.
Dialling into the summit via video link, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky told Europe's leaders: “You and I are now in a strong position to direct all the possible might of Europe to end the war and guarantee long-term peace for Ukraine, for Europe, for the world.”
Macron said that the summit displayed a “message of unity” from Europe, standing up to Russian aggression.
Truss added that following the summit, Europe’s leaders were leaving with “greater collective resolve” to stand-up to Russia.
She said: “What we have seen in Prague is a forceful show of solidarity with Ukraine, and for the principles of freedom and democracy.”
Among the attendees were other European nations outside the EU including Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Turkey, the western Balkan countries, and Georgia and Azerbaijan in western Asia.
