.
A
Franco-British Union is a
concept for a union between the two
independent sovereign states of the
United Kingdom and
France. Such a union was
proposed during certain crises of the 20th century; it has some historical precedents.
In
December 1939,
Jean Monnet of the French Economic Mission in London became the head of the
Anglo-French Coordinating Committee, which coordinated joint planning of the two countries' wartime economies. The Frenchman hoped for a postwar
United States of Europe and saw an Anglo-French political union as a step toward his goal. He discussed the idea with
Neville Chamberlain,
Winston Churchill's assistant
Desmond Morton, and other British officials.
In
June 1940,
French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud's government faced imminent defeat in the
Battle of France. In March, they and the British had agreed that neither country would seek a
separate peace with
Nazi Germany. The
French cabinet on
15 June 1940 voted to ask Germany for the terms of an armistice. Reynaud, who wished to continue the war from
North Africa, was forced to submit the proposal to
Churchill's War Cabinet. He claimed that he would have to resign if the British were to reject the proposal.
The British opposed a French surrender, and in particular the possible loss of the
French Navy to the Germans, and so sought to keep Reynaud in office. On 14 June British diplomat
Robert Vansittart and Morton wrote with Monnet and his deputy
René Pleven a draft "Franco-British Union" proposal. They hoped that such a union would help Reynaud persuade his cabinet to continue the war from North Africa, but Churchill was skeptical when on 15 June the British War Cabinet discussed the proposal and a similar one from
Secretary of State for India Leo Amery. On the morning of 16 June, the War Cabinet agreed to the French armistice request on the condition that the French fleet sail to British harbours. This disappointed Reynaud, who had hoped to use a British rejection to persuade his cabinet to continue to fight.
Reynaud supporter
Charles de Gaulle had arrived in London earlier that day, however, and Monnet told him about the proposed union. De Gaulle convinced Churchill that "some dramatic move was essential to give Reynaud the support which he needed to keep his Government in the war". The Frenchman then called Reynaud and told him that the British prime minister proposed a union between their countries, an idea which Reynaud immediately supported. De Gaulle, Monnet, Vansittart, and Pleven quickly agreed to a document proclaiming a joint citizenship,
foreign trade,
currency, war cabinet, and military command. Churchill withdrew the armistice approval, and at 3 p.m. the War Cabinet met again to consider the union document. Despite the radical nature of the proposal, Churchill and the ministers recognized the need for a dramatic act to encourage the French and reinforce Reynaud's support within his cabinet before it met again at 5pm.
The final "Declaration of union" approved by the British War Cabinet stated that:
France and Great Britain shall no longer be two nations, but one Franco-British Union. The constitution of the Union will provide for joint organs of defence, foreign, financial and economic policies. Every citizen of France will enjoy immediately citizenship of Great Britain, every British subject will become a citizen of France.
Churchill and De Gaulle called Reynaud to tell him about the document, and they arranged for a joint meeting of the two governments in
Concarneau the next day. The declaration immediately succeeded in its goal of encouraging Reynaud, who saw the union as the only alternative to surrender and who could now cite the British rejection of the armistice.
Other French leaders were less enthusiastic, however. At the 5 p.m. cabinet meeting, many called it a British "last minute plan" to steal
its colonies, and said that "be[ing] a Nazi province" was preferable to becoming a
British dominion.
Philippe Pétain, a leader of the pro-armistice group, called union "fusion with a corpse". While
President Albert Lebrun and some others were supportive, the cabinet's opposition stunned Reynaud. He resigned that evening without taking a formal vote on the union or an armistice, and later called the failure of the union the "greatest disappointment of my political career".
Reynaud had erred, however, by conflating opposition to the union—which a majority of the cabinet almost certainly opposed—with support for an armistice, which it almost certainly did not. If the proposal had been made a few days earlier, instead of the 16th when the French only had hours to decide between armistice and North Africa, Reynaud's cabinet might have considered it more carefully.
Pétain formed a new government that evening, which immediately decided to
ask Germany for armistice terms. The British cancelled their plans to travel to Concarneau.
Historical unions1.1England and France .
1.2Scotland and France .
2Modern concepts .
2.1Entente cordiale (1904) .
2.2World War II (1940) .
France–United Kingdom relations .
English claims to the French throne .
Gallic Empire .
Carausian Revolt .
