UK, France commemorate wartime de Gaulle broadcast

UK: Elderly former members of the Free French joined President Nicolas Sarkozy in London Friday to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s radio appeal to his countrymen to resist Nazi occupation.

The British authorities are rolling out the red carpet for a huge French delegation headed by Sarkozy and his wife Carla, with Prince Charles and Prime Minister David Cameron due to take part in a series of solemn events in the British capital.

Cameron, then in opposition, told Sarkozy during a meeting in March that, if he won Britain’s May election, he would wish to celebrate De Gaulle’s appeal appropriately as a mark of friendship between London and Paris.

Cameron, whose Conservative Party has a history of tense relations with Britain’s European Union partners, took office on May 11 at the head of a coalition government with the smaller Liberal Democrats.

He has been keen to dispel fears that he would be an obstructive force in Europe and his first foreign trip as prime minister was to Paris, then Berlin. For Sarkozy, struggling at home with poor poll ratings, the celebration is an opportunity to take a break from problems such as pensions reform and bask in the aura of De Gaulle.

Sarkozy’s UMP, the mainstream centre-right French political party, traces its roots to De Gaulle during his time as President between 1958 and 1969.

LONDON, Friday, Reuters