Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac on Thursday drew a line under their differences over the Iraq war, emphasising that Britain and France can join forces to confront a range of international issues, including the Middle East peace process, the future of Africa and climate change.
On the first day of the French president's state visit to the UK, both leaders made a genuine effort to emphasise their new unity of purpose. “The differences at the time of the conflict were well known but . . . both of us want to see a stable and democratic Iraq and will do what we can to ensure that happens,” Mr Blair said in London.
Mr Chirac again insisted as he had consistently over the last eighteen months that the world was no safer after the toppling of Saddam Hussein. “If you see the way things are developing in the world in terms of security and the expansion of terrorism . . . you cannot say credibly the situation has significantly improved.”
But the French president appeared determined to be conciliatory to Mr Blair, saying Iraq was “the one and only issue” on which France and Britain disagreed. “Who is right or wrong, history will tell,” he said.
Mr Chirac added: “What matters really is all that we have in common in the present and for the future,” adding that Africa and climate change were “two of the most important questions we need to address for the future of the world”.
The need to galvanise the Middle East peace process was one of the central issues on both men's minds, following the death of Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat. “The UK and France consider there is a window of opportunity that we could have a more stable order, and we should do everything we can to achieve that,” said Mr Chirac.
Mr Blair concurred: “There is a consensus the world over as to the objectives we are trying to secure.” Senior French officials say relations between Mr Blair and Mr Chirac have normalised after a turbulent period starting in the autumn of 2002 when they disagreed over Iraq, the EU common agricultural policy and the future of Europe.
British diplomats believe that Mr Chirac will want to re-engage with the new Bush administration, even if France and the UK are waiting to see how US policy will evolve.
Mr Chirac was scheduled on Thursday evening to be a guest of Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle and watch a special staging of “Les Miserables”, the hit musical set in revolutionary France.
The venue, the Waterloo Chamber, has been renamed the Music Room for the event to avoid reference to the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1815.
