Over on the European Geostrategy blog, James Rogers has a good round-up and analysis of issues arising out of the landmark Anglo-French nuclear and defence cooperation treaties announced in London yesterday.

 

NATO, the US and the European Defence Agency (EDA) have all welcomed the agreement. But Nick Witney, former chief of the EDA, thinks "there's a real issue as to whether this sucks the oxygen out of the air for wider EU cooperation".

 

The FT meanwhile wonders if the agreement is part of a wider European power play by David Cameron, in which he would try to recreate an ad hoc version of the 'trilateralism' between London, Paris and Berlin that was a hallmark of Tony Blair’s early European policy. His coalition government has promised an 'active and activist' approach to European affairs, and he has proven this intention, for example by last week convincing ten other countries to support a call for the increase in the EU's 2011 budget to be limited to 2.91%. (This last intervention displaying more activism than many would have liked, as it disrupted the agenda of a crucial Council summit and pre-empted a coming inter-institutional debate over the Union's long- and short-term funding prospects.)

 

Recent events have certainly reaffirmed the importance of the Franco-German axis in European politics. It will be interesting to watch how Chancellor Merkel's government reacts to Cameron and Sarkozy's newly close working relationship.