France's Macron hosts Starmer as UK seeks to reset Europe ties
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00:00A handshake and a hug to mark a reset in UK-EU relations.
00:06The British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is following up on his trip to Berlin on Wednesday
00:10with one to Paris.
00:12Britain's new centre-left government wants to relaunch post-Brexit ties with Europe.
00:17So we discussed the situation in Ukraine, as you would expect, the situation in the
00:22Middle East, bilateral issues in terms of trade and defence and security, but also the
00:28wider reset that I want in relation to our relations, not just with France, but with
00:34the EU in general.
00:36Starmer in Berlin on Wednesday for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and has plans for a
00:41treaty by the end of the year aimed at deepening bilateral trade, defence and other ties.
00:47This treaty is part of a wider reset.
00:52The proposed UK-Germany treaty is modelled in part on agreements Britain already has
00:57with France on defence, security and closer law enforcement cooperation against people-smuggling
01:02gangs.
01:05On one major issue, the move further to the right in politics in parts of Europe, Starmer
01:10wants Europe's progressive political parties to discuss and work together.
01:15I am worried about the far right, I'm worried about populism and nationalism and the politics
01:20of the easy answer, the snake oil, if you like.
01:24And I think it's very important that we have a debate about how we confront that.
01:29Reaching a new level of cooperation with the EU as a whole may be more elusive than forging
01:33bilateral agreements.
01:35Both Scholz and Macron, for example, are in weaker positions.
01:39The German Chancellor heads a shaky three-party coalition set for challenging regional elections
01:44next month and unlikely to survive next year's national vote.
01:47And Macron is struggling to come up with a candidate for Prime Minister after a snap
01:51election in July produced a hopelessly hung parliament in France.