Speech of the Consul General on Bastille Day
on Thursday 14th July, French National Day
"Lord Provost, Ministers, Members of the Scottish Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen, chers amis,
Thank you for coming tonight from all over Scotland. We are very honoured with my wife Anne that so many of you made it from Glasgow, Aberdeen, St Andrews, Stirling, the borders and many other places in Scotland.
It is basically a message of thanks that I would like to deliver tonight to all of you, our friends, and the friends of France.
Regarding the Franco-Scottish relations, this has been a very good year I must say.
Thanks to many of you the French Institute which was programmed to be downsized, has not been, quite the contrary. It was decided to be maintained as a fully-fledged cultural institute. It was re-launched with a very dynamic program: with the année Bretagne-Ecosse, the Institute took part in the Edinburgh film festival. We are also pleased to announce that the French Institute for Scotland this year again will be a venue for the Fringe Festival this summer. We are also very happy that the courses have been very well re-launched with a 15% increase of their students - so all those of you who are not in yet, are welcome back!
I would like to say also that the French Institute has a very dynamic programme of promoting French language and the relations between French and Scottish universities. Here also tonight I would like to thank all the university professors and the universities who do help us in our bilateral relations also. We know that there are also some programs of French teaching, of French courses, within Scottish schools, in Edinburgh, Glasgow and other places in Scotland. For this also, it has been a good year.
This is a good year culturally also thanks to the participation of other institutions, like the National Gallery of Scotland which very kindly organised a beautiful exhibition of “French drawings, from Poussin to Seurat”.
We are also very pleased that the Castle of Stirling reopened the royal apartments which have been refurbished, and show a very strong influence of French art. It was reopened a couple of weeks ago by the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and External Affairs, Fiona Hyslop, celebrating the 450th anniversary of the coming back to Scotland of our iconic Mary Queen of Scots, the mother of the Franco-Scottish relations: our franco-scottish Queen reigned both on France, as the wife of King François II (for one and a half year) and on Scotland. This year also in Glasgow, we are going to celebrate this time a Scottish artist, the “colourist” John Duncan Fergusson, who was so much influenced by French art. He worked for a long time in France and was a friend of Picasso and Matisse. In September we are very happy to open an exhibition at the Hunterian Gallery in Glasgow about his work in France.
This has not only been a successful year for the Franco – Scottish relations on the cultural side. We have seen three of our major French companies increase their business here in Scotland, helping all of us. Total announced that they are going to develop an important gas and condensate field close to the Shetlands, the field of Tormore-Laggan, which seems to be a technological challenge. I was told it represents the future of oil and gas industry in the United Kingdom. In the field of renewable energies, we have two success stories: Technip, last year, in 2010 decided to invest more in Aberdeen and to set its headquarters for the North sea in this town. In February, Technip decided also to invest in a small innovative Scottish firm, Subocean, which is developing and installing under the sea cables and developing the first floating wind turbine as a Franco-Scottish success story. And lately, last month, Alstom decided to buy 40% of a Scottish innovative firm called AWS Ocean Energy which develops energy from the waves. So there you are, if you are ready, France is ready this year to help Scotland rule the waves!
The Franco-Scottish relations are also a major component and dimension of a very important relation for France, which is our relation with the United Kingdom as a whole. This year has been a turning point in another field, in which Scotland weighs a lot in the British Isles, which is the military and political field. The last Franco British summit in London, in November 2010, saw the signing of a major military treaty in Lancaster House. This treaty, which encompasses several types of operational, industrial and strategic cooperation, is the beginning of a very tight strategic partnership between Britain and France. As soon as it was signed, important duties around the world awaited us, especially in North Africa. The Arab Spring arrived and France and Britain were the first ones as you know to lead the military efforts to protect the Libyan people against their dictator. We also have a very close cooperation and very similar positions on many major world subjects, such as Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the fight against piracy in the gulf of Aden and against terrorism around the world. We are very happy that Scotland, having such a great military tradition, will be even closer to us through our strategic partnership with Britain. As you know, France and Britain by themselves account for about 50% of all the European military effort. We are at the forefront of the European defence and security policy, and we are happy that within this British effort, Scotland is very special.
So tonight, for all the very valuable contributions that you make all of you to our bilateral relations, I would like to thank you, to thank the Scottish Government, to thank the Scottish Parliament, to thank all our friends from the Franco-Scottish Society, from the Franco-Scottish business club, from the French and Scottish firms that work together, I would like to thank our friends at the universities and everywhere tonight for keeping this “Auld Alliance”, which unites France and Scotland since over 700 years now, so lively and so young. Thank you very much! "