Axelle Lemaire speaks at FBC AGM
Axelle Lemaire, who is bidding to become one of the first French MP's elected by expatriot French, kindly gave a speech at our AGM. The main points of her speech were as follows:
- · Election of Francois Hollande has deepened the Franco-British relationship.
- · Axelle was behind visit of Hollande to London.
- · UK is important to Hollande.
- · She is personally sorry he did not meet Cameron at the time. We have to ensure this does not have consequences.
- · Hollande is surrounded by Anglophiles – they are key team members.
- · If elected she will be keen to work with the FBC and promote greater cooperation.
- · Defence Minister came for discussions with the MOD. Clearly this is an area of interest for both countries. What could change is at European level. I hope it will.
- · Francois Hollande went to Berlin to discuss Greek crisis; the structure and rules of the way in which things take place will remain the same.
- · European Central Bank’s role has not changed.
- · Hollande is coming with new legitimacy – to see what he can add to the debate. How can more jobs be created at European level? Hope that Cameron will be part of this discussion as well.
- · In the election Hollande was not first in London but he came out top in the UK.