French President Emmanuel Macron has been forced to pump more than €2bn (£1.7bn) into EDF after ordering it to sell power below market prices. The French state will buy up the majority of a €2.5bn share sale by the energy giant, which is struggling to shore up its battered balance sheet. The government, which holds…
Relations between the British and French governments have rarely been so dreadful since the origins of the entente cordiale and the long alliance under Lord Aberdeen in the 1840s. The diplomatic earthquake of Brexit has collided with the political character of Emmanuel Macron, who combines ultra-Europeanist ideology (when it suits him) with Bonapartist methods and…
Brussels has been defeated in its bid to freeze the UK out of cutting-edge research programmes in quantum, artificial intelligence and space research. In a move championed by a senior French official, the European Commission wanted a blanket ban on UK participation in certain parts of the €100bn (£86bn) Horizon Europe funding programme deemed particularly…
