What Paris thinks of Blair's Britain

By Caroline Wyatt
BBC Paris Correspondent

Monday's meeting between UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and the French president Jacques Chirac is being seen in France as a chance to heal the wounds left by the disagreements over Iraq. But what do politicians and people in Paris think of the British, post-Iraq?

At the Rose bakery and cafe in central Paris, it's a surprise to see posh Parisians greedily tucking in to scones and sticky toffee puddings.

Its owners, English chef Rose Carrarini, and her French husband Jean-Charles, have been amazed by the enthusiasm of the French for traditional English treats.

Can Blair and Chirac repair relations?

They believe that on a personal, rather than a political level, the French and the British have a lot in common - as they discovered after opening the cafe.

"I was very nervous when we first opened, because of being a British chef - and all the snobbery that goes with food - but the French have actually been so warm and receptive, and not just about the food," says Rose.

"They like the English, and I think as people, the British and the French definitely get on better than we think we do."

Jean-Charles agrees. Half French, half-Italian, he's spent most of his working life in Britain, and their two children still live in England.

He says the French actually have rather a soft spot for the British.

Fondness

"They like the food, and it makes them very nostalgic for all the things they remember about the time they've spent in Britain, usually when they were young.

"I think French people genuinely like the English culture, and the people and they are very knowledgeable about what is going on, on the other side of the Channel."

Yet away from the warmth and the delicious smells of the Rose bakery and cafe, Britain's recent recipe for foreign policy has left a rather more bitter taste.

To some French, the pomp and ceremony of President Bush's state visit to London only rubbed in what they already feared - that Tony Blair seems more concerned with the transatlantic relationship than with his neighbours across the Channel.

I think there are some scars that remain of the anti-French campaign that we had during the war Patrice de Beer Le Monde

Patrice de Beer, an editorial writer for the newspaper Le Monde, and a former London and Washington correspondent for the newspaper, says the French political establishment is feeling rather disillusioned with Mr Blair's Britain.

"There is a general feeling that under Blair, Britain is back to its old pre-EU Americano-mania, and at the same time it's surprising as Britain is getting far less from the Bush administration than the previous British government were getting from the previous US administration," he tells me.

So what can the British government do during this summit to persuade France that Britain still wants a major role in building the new Europe?

And is France expecting such a move? Patrice de Beer thinks not.

"I don't think we can expect very much. I think there are some scars that remain of the anti-French campaign that we had during the war that were led from Washington but fed from London," he says.

"Trust needs to be rebuilt but can only be built on concrete steps."

Pride

But what sort of steps? Axel Poniatowski, an MP in Mr Chirac's centre-right UMP party, believes one step Britain could take is make clear whether or not it's willing to commit itself wholeheartedly to a European defence force, with a command separate to that of NATO - even at the risk of upsetting America.

"The position of Mr Blair has been a little bit confused on this issue, and the message that he has been trying to send to us is not quite clear," he tells me.

Bush's state visit to the UK heightened French suspicions

"Mr Blair is saying that on the one hand that the ties and the link with NATO are extremely important and that nothing needs to be changed, but that on the other side he agrees with France and Germany on the necessity to create this famous European command."

There's a similar mood of suspicion on the streets of Paris, among ordinary people.

One young French businessman says: "In terms of international relations and trouble like Iraq and disagreement politically between Mr Chirac and Mr Blair, it has been a hard relation for a long time.

"Both nations are made of proud people who want to show they are best."

Another young French woman agrees. "There is a real gap between England and France at the moment, and the French have to realise that there's no reason for the English to feel they are always right against the French."

Mr Blair and Mr Chirac are expected to announce details of next year's 100th anniversary celebrations of the Entente Cordiale.

Yet as far as some in Paris are concerned, there may be an entente but at the moment it's not at its most cordial.