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Franco-UK summit seeks new geometry

By Robin Oakley, CNN European Political Editor

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The new Rapid Reaction Force, illegal immigration and the future shape of Europe will top the talks' menu at this year's annual Anglo-French summit.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair is set to dine on duck in Cahors on Friday night with President Jacques Chirac and French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin as the annual talks kick off.

It comes a week after Germany's Chancellor Schroeder was feted with foie gras and sauerkraut in Alsace, where it was admitted that the relationship between those two countries was no longer what it once was.

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High on Chirac and Blair's agenda will be measures to deal with cross-Channel smuggling, especially of those seeking political asylum in Britain on the grounds of persecution in their home countries.

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Franco-German tensions

Blair is facing an election and is under pressure from opponents who declare that Britain is a "soft touch" for bogus asylum seekers who are really just economic migrants in search of a better living.

He would like to be able to send more of those apprehended straight back to France. EU countries are supposed to be able to return illegal immigrants to the country through which they entered the EU.

Justice ministers from around Europe are currently debating the wider issue of "people smuggling" in Stockholm with agreement on Thursday to send more immigration police and intelligence units to the Western Balkans to curb the growing trade.

Defence tension

Also on the Cahors agenda will be the new Rapid Reaction Force (RRF), the European defence operation championed by Britain and France.

There were obvious tensions between Blair and Chirac at the Nice EU summit in December when the French President was forced to back down after stressing the independence of the new force from NATO.

Conscious of worries in Washington that launching the RRF could undermine NATO, Blair has been at pains to assure the Americans that the new force will only undertake tasks which NATO chooses not to perform.

He says the RRF will share assets with the cross-Atlantic alliance and that NATO will remain responsible for Europe's collective security.

Chirac, whose relationship with America is much cooler, uses a different emphasis when talking about the new force. But both know the precise relationship between NATO and the RRF has to be worked out.

The debate about the RRF was enlivened on Thursday by Britain's senior soldier. General Sir Charles Guthrie, Chief of the Defence Staff, urged greater defence spending across Europe.

Far from undermining the NATO alliance, he argued in a speech in Rome, the RRF would reinforce it. If Europe did not do more for its own defence, America would do less.

"There is an argument that a strong, more assertive Europe will undermine NATO. I think that is wrong. A Europe that remains allied to the US simply because of its own weaknesses is of limited value."

At last week's Franco-German meeting Chirac and Germany's Chancellor Schroeder acknowledged that co-operation between the two countries, traditionally combined as the EU driving force, was not what it was.

France and Germany have clashed at recent EU summits on agricultural reform, Germany's budget contribution and the weighting of votes in the Council of Ministers.

British officials do not kid themselves that a Franco-British or British-German axis of equal weight can be developed. But they believe that in a Europe of looser alliances the UK can now combine effectively with either country on specific issues.

Just as Blair has worked with the French on defence he has worked with other countries on other issues, hoping to encourage a shifting in the European geometry. He has allied with the Portuguese on "new economy" issues and last week launched a joint initiative with the Italians on immigration measures.

The Cahors meeting could be important in the coming debate about the future shape of Europe and its institutions. Germany's Chancellor, who favours more European integration with a bigger role for the European Commission and Parliament, is at odds with Chirac, who favours a Europe of distinct nation states.

Blair has more in common politically with Schroder as another man of the Centre Left. But on Europe's constitutional future he is more in tune with Chirac.

Both the French President and Britain's Prime Minister are suspicious of Germany's plans for a constitutional conference in 2004 to settle the relationship between central European institutions and the individual countries. Neither Blair nor Chirac wants to cede any more power to the European Commission.

Cahors has a reputation for its strong red wine. Some equally strong opinions are likely to be swapped over the duck.