Edouard Tétreau:

Our countries are united in the fight against Isil – and we feel safer and stronger with the UK at our side

Just three weeks after the gruesome terrorist attacks that took the lives of 130 people and injured 351, Britain has joined France’s campaign to bombard the nest of thieves, butchers, slavers and rapists that is the Islamic State (Isil) in Syria.

It is a decision that has touched our hearts and minds, because it says the following, powerfully and simply: whatever our differences, we know that Britain will always stand by our side. Yes, we can argue, bicker and fight when it comes to petty matters of business and culture, not to mention football or rugby. But when it comes to life-threatening moments, moments when our very identities and way of life are challenged, we are one.

As I write, British Tornado jets are destroying Isil’s oil fields as efficiently as French Rafales and Mirages are wiping out its training camps, and hopefully its command centres. At sea, France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier, with 27 fighter jets on board and a 2,000-strong crew, is going to be escorted and protected by HMS Defender. We feel safer and stronger with Britain at our side.

A year ago, France’s struggle against Islamism often seemed a lonely one. It was at that time that I heard a leading figure from a renowned pro-European think tank in London ridicule the French effort in Mali with: “We don’t need to support trigger-happy French soldiers playing the grande nation in sub-Saharan Africa.” Now most Britons recognise that this enemy has to be fought from the sands of Sahel to the mountains of Afghanistan – even on our own streets.

Too often, France has been let down. In terms of electronic surveillance and intelligence-sharing, the November 13 attacks revealed a baffling amateurism and lack of adequate organisation between my country and Belgium. And I can’t help asking: if this was the best that the European Union could deliver, which reasonable country would want to be a part of it?

Europe certainly needs to do more to tackle defence and security issues. At the moment, the EU’s main military body, the European Defence Agency, has a budget of just €30 million – or 0.02 per cent of the EU’s budget. But we can’t wait for the bureaucratic behemoth in Brussels to wake up and rise to the challenge: we need to share our intelligence faster and in greater depth. In particular, France, which has world-class capacities and intelligence in a number of areas (notably cyber and West Africa), should consider joining the Five Eyes intelligencesharing platform, which sees the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia pool their intelligence and surveillance efforts. It could well make Europe, Africa and the world a safer place.

Thanks to Britain’s recent defence review, the UK is investing significant resources to rebuild a potent military force by sea, air and land. France will rightly join this effort. But while both our countries have ruled out deploying troops on the ground in Syria, there is another ground war for us both to fight: a war at home. Isil will not be annihilated solely by bombs, or by stronger security infrastructure and better shared intelligence. On the home front, its ideology can only ultimately be rooted out by building economies that provide well-paid jobs and offer the opportunities to climb the social and geographical ladder.

What was striking about the attacks in Paris was that they were perpetrated not by elite commandos, outsmarting a world-class security network. They were perpetrated by a sorry bunch of criminals who arrived too late at the Stade de France, where they blew themselves up without killing anyone else.

The story of these assassins’ lives is one of social inadequacy, envy and hatred even of their own families. It has nothing to do with Islam, and everything to do with their inability to find a fulfilling life in our society. In France today, youth unemployment stands at 24 per cent and twomillion people are “NEETs”: not in employment, education or training. In the UK figures also show that youth unemployment remains unacceptably high. This is where Isil recruits – and this is where it needs to be roundly defeated, too.

Every major crisis acts as a moment of catharsis – it reveals our core strengths and weaknesses. This crisis has revealed a key strength at the heart of Europe: the French-British alliance, which is stronger than ever. It has also revealed two major flaws: both countries’ struggle to win the war against Isil at home, and the sheer amateurism, mediocrity and uselessness of a European Union which, from the very beginning of this crisis, has been a deadweight at best and a nuisance at worst.

It is comforting to see Europe’s three largest nations, Germany included, reinvesting in their military capabilities to rise to the challenges of a dangerous world. It is mind-boggling to see that, in this area, Brussels still doesn’t get it. No wonder they are in for such a hard fight to prevent Brexit.