Emmanuel Macron, making the state visit by a European head of state to the UK since Brexit, has addressed MPs and peers in the Royal Gallery in parliament. Here are five standout moments from his speech
A mild dig at Brexit
Nine years on from the referendum, and coded laments about Brexit are more palatable. The French president said that while the UK was no longer in the EU, it “cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent”.
He also hinted at a desire for closer links of the sort allowed by youth mobility schemes, saying: “There is a risk that our societies are growing apart, that our young people do not know each other as well, and may end up strangers at a time when international current events remind us on a daily basis of our common future. Let’s fix it.”
Migration and asylum
This is one of the main areas where Keir Starmer hopes to make progress when the more political part of the visit begins from Wednesday, with the hope of news about more French efforts to stop small boats already in the water.
“In this unstable world, hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate. But we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life,” Macron said. “France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness.”
Ukraine and security
Macron and Starmer are scheduled to join a call of the “coalition of the willing”, states willing to help guarantee Ukraine’s security in the event of a ceasefire, later in his visit.
“We will never accept the theory that might is right,” Macron said. “And I want to be clear, this is why, together with you, Mr Prime Minister, we decided to launch last February this coalition. And this coalition was just a signal that Europeans will never abandon Ukraine. Never.”
Macron also talked more widely about the centrality of the UK and France to European security as the only nuclear states and “the leading armed forces of the continent”.
Less reliance on the US and China
On wider global politics, Macron said European countries must end their “excessive dependencies on both the US and China”, criticisingChina’s use of subsidies and Donald Trump’s reliance on tariffs.
He added: “We want an open world. We want to cooperate, but not to depend.”
Gaza
It was, Macron said, “a matter of absolute urgency to end the suffering of the hostages and of the Gazans”, calling for a ceasefire in what he called “a war without end and without a strategic objective”.
He added: “We are aware that the political way out is crucial, and I believe in the future of the two-state solution as a basis for regional security architecture, which will enable Israel to live in peace and security alongside its neighbours.”
