British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his reelection and said he looks forward to working with the French president on issues such as the war in Ukraine.
Final results of the runoff election on April 24 showed Macron beat his right-wing opponent Marine Le Pen with 58.54 percent of the vote, a higher margin of victory than many earlier surveys had predicted but well below the 66.1 percent he scored against the same opponent in their first runoff in 2017.
Johnson said on Twitter: “Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on your re-election as president of France. France is one of our closest and most important allies.
“I look forward to continuing to work together on the issues which matter most to our two countries and to the world.”
Talking to reporters on April 25, Johnson said it is “very important” to have a French president “who can be relied upon” on international issues such as the war in Ukraine.
“It’s not right for friendly governments to comment on elections in neighbouring countries but what I can certainly say is that it is very, very important that Emmanuel and I have been able to work closely together on Ukraine over the last few weeks and months,” he said.
“We share a very common, very similar perspective and the unity of the West, the unity of NATO, has been absolutely vital for the stance we’ve taken against Putin, and that will now continue and I’m very, very reassured by that.”
London and Paris have endured a tense relationship in recent years. The French government has complained about the UK’s reluctance to issue fishing licences to French fishermen, claiming it was a breach of the post-Brexit trade deal between the UK and the European Union.
Meanwhile, the UK government has repeatedly expressed frustration over France’s alleged failure to prevent illegal immigrants from boarding small boats and crossing the English Channel into Britain.
Boris Johnson, who led the Brexit campaign and took the UK out of the EU, has more common ground with Le Pen than Macron on the issue of EU membership.
Le Pen had long flirted with the idea of leaving the bloc, though she insisted during the election campaign she had no “secret agenda” this time for quitting the EU or the euro single currency.
Despite the fractious post-Brexit relations between the UK and French governments, the war in Ukraine has recently refocused minds on the issue of European security.
Britain has positioned itself as one of Kyiv’s closest allies both in the run-up to and during the Russian invasion, and has called on other European powers, including France, to do more.
Cabinet minister and Conservative Party Chairman Oliver Dowden told Sky News on Sunday, “I think we’ve had very positive noises from France and Germany but I would like to see further action from them.”
Though the UK government is still unsatisfied with Macron’s level of support for Ukraine, his rival Le Pen could not necessarily be counted on to make the same “positive noises.”
During the election campaign, Le Pen defended her previous expressions of esteem for Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying she had only been defending French interests in her warm contacts with the Kremlin leader.
She insisted on maintaining good relations with Putin, saying, “As soon as the Russian–Ukrainian war is over and has been settled by a peace treaty, I will call for the implementation of a strategic rapprochement between NATO and Russia.”
She also said, if elected president, she would take France out of NATO’s integrated command structure to restore French sovereignty on matters of international security.
