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FRANCE AND UK

King Charles III says on D-Day ‘nations must stand together to oppose tyranny’

British King Charles III at a D-Day commemoration in France on Thursday gave a speech in French in which he called for unity as he marked 80 years since the Allied landings in Normandy that changed the outcome of World War II.

Published: 6 June 2024 12:23 CEST
King Charles III says on D-Day 'nations must stand together to oppose tyranny'
Britain's King Charles III delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the World War II "D-Day" Allied landings in Normandy. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / POOL / AFP)

In the French town of Ver-sur-Mer, he paid homage to fallen Allied soldiers, French civilians who lost their lives and the courage of members of the French resistance.

“It is with the most profound sense of gratitude that we remember them, and all those who served at that critical time,” he said.

“We recall the lesson that comes to us, again and again, across the decades: Free nations must stand together to oppose tyranny,” he said.

“Let us pray such sacrifice need never be made again.”

He said he had been honoured to meet so many veterans over the years and hear their testimonies while they were still alive.

“Our ability to learn from their stories at first hand diminishes,” he said.

“But our obligation to remember them, what they stood for and what they achieved for us all can never diminish.”

Turning to French, he paid homage to what he called the “greatest tragedy of the landings: the unimaginable number of civilians who died in this joint battle for freedom”.

He also saluted the “incredible courage and sacrifice of the men and women of the French resistance”.

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POLITICS

British PM promises ‘new impetus’ to French ties

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised on Thursday to bring a "new impetus" to ties with France and to work with Paris to oppose Russia's invasion of Ukraine and end migrant-trafficking across the Channel.

Published: 18 July 2024 09:56 CEST
British PM promises 'new impetus' to French ties

Starmer was to meet France’s President Emmanuel Macron later in the day for one-to-one talks on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Blenheim Palace, near Oxford.

In a piece published in French newspaper Le Monde to mark the meeting, the new British premier acknowledged Britain is no longer one of France’s EU partners, since the previous government left the union.

But, Starmer wrote, 120 years after the Entente Cordiale agreements resolving colonial disputes between Paris and London, “we are still bound by many things”, citing the G7 group, UN Security Council and NATO.

And he recalled the key role Britain and France have played as European military and economic powers in resisting Russia.

“I never thought, in my lifetime, that I would hear the rumble of war echoing across Europe. I never thought a leader would choose such an absurd and destructive path,” Starmer wrote.

“And yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin made this choice. Our determination to face it must never waver.”

Freshly elected at the head of a Labour Party government with a large House of Commons majority, Starmer also addressed the issue of cross-Channel migration, which has hurt ties in the recent past.

As prime minister, Starmer has already abandoned his predecessor’s efforts to expel asylum-seekers arriving in Britain by boat to Rwanda, but is still seeking a way to slow arrivals from France.

“A veritable criminal empire is today at work throughout Europe. It profits from human misery and despair, sending countless innocent people to their deaths in the waters of the English Channel,” he said.

“For me, this problem is no longer a challenge, it is a crisis. We will therefore work with France and with all our European partners to resolve it,” he wrote, vowing that Britain would respect international law.

The former senior lawyer stressed that Britain would continue to respect the European Convention on Human Rights, which the previous government had considered quitting.

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