Brown and Sarkozy pledge joint action on terrorism

The new leaders of Britain and France promised an era of deeper cooperation today at their first meeting since taking office, with co-ordinated efforts against terrorism and a joint push to quickly end the humanitarian “catastrophe” in Darfur.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said they are looking for agreement on a UN resolution for a hybrid African Union-United Nations force in Darfur by the end of July, with deployment starting in September or October.

They suggested they might visit Darfur themselves.

The meeting at the Elysee Palace was their first since Sarkozy took office in May and Brown in June.

Their governments see the leadership change in both countries as a chance for a new dynamic in relations.

The men’s predecessors, Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, had a sometimes testy relationship, sparring over issues such as the Iraq war and EU farm subsidies.

“On all the subjects we talked about, Gordon Brown and I have the common will to work together, to affirm the ties between Britain and France, and to take initiatives together,” Sarkozy said.

They have decided to meet regularly, including before European summits, to harmonise their positions, and Sarkozy said they agreed to speak by phone almost every week.

Sarkozy and Brown paid special attention to Darfur, offering a four-point plan with diplomatic, political and financial components. The two leaders said they were prepared to travel to Darfur together to push for peace.

“People are dying and people are suffering. It must stop,” Sarkozy said, calling Darfur a “catastrophe” while Brown named it a “humanitarian disaster.”

Sarkozy and Brown’s initiative aims to accelerate efforts at forming a hybrid force of African Union and U.N. peacekeepers. It calls for agreement on a Security Council resolution for the force by the end of the month and the start of deployment in the autumn.

They called on UN member states to offer troops and logistics.

Brown said he and Sarkozy will send their foreign ministers to New York to push for UN action “with the greatest speed.”

Both countries will press for an immediate ceasefire in Darfur and are prepared to provide substantial economic aid “as soon as a cease-fire makes it possible,” Brown said.

If no action is taken, Brown said, “we will be prepared to consider as individual countries a toughening up of sanctions” against the Sudanese regime.

In another announcement, the leaders said they were forming a joint committee to exchange terrorism intelligence. The committee is expected to meet four times a year.

Terrorism “is one of the great challenges that we’ll face, not just for the next few years but for decades ahead,” Brown said.

They also said their finance ministers will be rapidly dispatched to EU headquarters in Brussels to put forward the proposal to cut value-added taxes on green products.

The two leaders also pushed for environmentally friendly products.

“It is, after all, abnormal that a polluting car costs less than a car that does not pollute,” Sarkozy said.

Brown said lower VAT on green products “could send out a very important message about what we think about pollution and about what we can do.”

Brown and Sarkozy are not natural allies – Sarkozy is a conservative and Brown is a Labour politician.

They glossed over a question about their differing views on the economy - notably, with Sarkozy’s history of occasionally protecting French companies in contrast to Brown’s more steadfastly free market credentials.

Brown said they found common ground in their talks on economic reform and the VAT proposal.

Sarkozy said the EU’s goal should be full employment, and that competition should be a means, not an end. He also said the EU should not have tougher competition standards than the rest of the world.

“We want to open our markets,” he said. “We ask all parts of the world to open their markets ... Openness, yes, but on the basis of reciprocity.”