Macron and May stress unity at joint press conference

The president of France. Emmanuel Macron, and the British Prime Minister Theresa may met for a bilateral Anglo-French summit on Thursday, the 35th between the pair.

With Britain's turn to host the venue was especially significant; Sandhurst, where generations of army officers have been taught. The elite school provides NATO with key elements in its leadership, and Britain and France are by far the biggest military powers in the alliance after America, and UN Security Council members.

For several years the British and French military establishments have been getting closer together with a view to forming a core group for a possible European defence force, and May announced the pair would soon be able to deploy a 10,000 man joint rapid reaction force to anywhere needed.

Whatever the implications of Brexit Britain and France stand together on defence and security, it seems.

Both leaders were keen to stress that leaving the EU for Britain did not mean leaving Europe, and that the bilateral ties with France would only strengthen in the future.

However Macron again warned Britain that the single market was a red line no-one could cross, and that it was unrealistic to expect exactly the same single market conditions for a non-EU member.

SOURCE: euronews
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