France's media speculate president might cancel Oxfordshire meeting given perceived vitriol from UK press and government
As François Hollande arrived to meet David Cameron in London, the entente was threatening – like the weather – to be less than cordial.
The British prime minister had extended an invitation that the French president could have surely easily refused; not a multicourse silver-service banquet à la Elysée Palace, but a pub lunch in Oxfordshire.
How Hollande's Gallic heart must have sunk as he crossed the point of no return under the Channel: he may style himself as "Monsieur Normal", but he is still the president of France and we can only hope Cameron's local could produce a better glass of red than that available at most of Britain's traditional ale-houses.
If this was not reason enough for Hollande to find a more pressing international crisis demanding his attention, there was what the French media coined in defiance of the country's language police, "Le French bashing".
There had been rumours that the French were about to cancel the meeting given the level of sniping from the British side of the Channel.
The economics they could discuss and agree to disagree, but the idea that an insolent and disrespectful British press was more interested in the Elysée soap opera involving the president and the actor, thus provoking even more "total indignation" from the already indignant Hollande, was almost too much.
But the Elysée was determined to be grown up about it all. "If we cancelled for that, we'd never have a summit," one presidential advisor told Le Figaro newspaper.
Given the amount of flak Cameron, his Conservative colleagues and the British media have given the president since he was elected in May 2012, Hollande might have been sorely tempted to give the prime minister a punch on the nose and return to Paris.
If anyone in France had not kept up with the litany of anti-French salvos fired across the Channel, several magazines and papers were on hand to remind them: how Cameron had refused to see Hollande during a visit to London during his presidential election campaign; how in response to the president's proposal to tax the super rich at 75%, Cameron offered to roll out the red carpet to French businesses; how London's mayor, Boris Johnson, liked the Socialist administration in Paris to the "terror and tyranny" of the French revolution; how the Economist waded in with an article entitled: "France: the time bomb at the heart of Europe", followed by Newsweek with: "The Fall of France"; and how the French embassy in London had been forced to issue a fierce defence of "France's failed socialist experiment".
Le Nouvel Observateur magazine said French-bashing had become a fashionable pastime in Britain. It said "the English" liked winding up "Les Frogs" with their favourite joke: how many French does it take to defend Paris? Who knows, they've never tried.
It added that while the British liked nothing better than taking the mickey out of the French over their "personal hygiene and love of cheese", recent attacks had become more ideological.
Even, yes, even, the Guardian had put the boot in, it lamented, with a recent piece: "France, the new sick man of Europe". So, we were told, of all the thorny subjects likely to come up, Cameron and Hollande would probably stick to the least prickly – military defence – and everything would be fine.
Cordial the Anglo-French entente might be, but it was not expected to be warm.
As the French edition of the Huffington Post warned: "Between the perfidious Albion and the Froggies, the climate could not be more glacial." Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.
As François Hollande arrived to meet David Cameron in London, the entente was threatening – like the weather – to be less than cordial.
The British prime minister had extended an invitation that the French president could have surely easily refused; not a multicourse silver-service banquet à la Elysée Palace, but a pub lunch in Oxfordshire.
How Hollande's Gallic heart must have sunk as he crossed the point of no return under the Channel: he may style himself as "Monsieur Normal", but he is still the president of France and we can only hope Cameron's local could produce a better glass of red than that available at most of Britain's traditional ale-houses.
If this was not reason enough for Hollande to find a more pressing international crisis demanding his attention, there was what the French media coined in defiance of the country's language police, "Le French bashing".
There had been rumours that the French were about to cancel the meeting given the level of sniping from the British side of the Channel.
The economics they could discuss and agree to disagree, but the idea that an insolent and disrespectful British press was more interested in the Elysée soap opera involving the president and the actor, thus provoking even more "total indignation" from the already indignant Hollande, was almost too much.
But the Elysée was determined to be grown up about it all. "If we cancelled for that, we'd never have a summit," one presidential advisor told Le Figaro newspaper.
Given the amount of flak Cameron, his Conservative colleagues and the British media have given the president since he was elected in May 2012, Hollande might have been sorely tempted to give the prime minister a punch on the nose and return to Paris.
If anyone in France had not kept up with the litany of anti-French salvos fired across the Channel, several magazines and papers were on hand to remind them: how Cameron had refused to see Hollande during a visit to London during his presidential election campaign; how in response to the president's proposal to tax the super rich at 75%, Cameron offered to roll out the red carpet to French businesses; how London's mayor, Boris Johnson, liked the Socialist administration in Paris to the "terror and tyranny" of the French revolution; how the Economist waded in with an article entitled: "France: the time bomb at the heart of Europe", followed by Newsweek with: "The Fall of France"; and how the French embassy in London had been forced to issue a fierce defence of "France's failed socialist experiment".
Le Nouvel Observateur magazine said French-bashing had become a fashionable pastime in Britain. It said "the English" liked winding up "Les Frogs" with their favourite joke: how many French does it take to defend Paris? Who knows, they've never tried.
It added that while the British liked nothing better than taking the mickey out of the French over their "personal hygiene and love of cheese", recent attacks had become more ideological.
Even, yes, even, the Guardian had put the boot in, it lamented, with a recent piece: "France, the new sick man of Europe". So, we were told, of all the thorny subjects likely to come up, Cameron and Hollande would probably stick to the least prickly – military defence – and everything would be fine.
Cordial the Anglo-French entente might be, but it was not expected to be warm.
As the French edition of the Huffington Post warned: "Between the perfidious Albion and the Froggies, the climate could not be more glacial." Reported by guardian.co.uk 11 hours ago.