Emmanuel Macron, “friend or foe”? Liz Truss, the favorite in the UK prime minister race, declined to comment on Thursday, saying she would judge the French president. “In his works”.

Ms Truss, speaking at the Conservative Party’s election meeting in Norwich (south-east) in the evening, however made it clear that she preferred French nuclear technology to Chinese nuclear technology. One who is still her country’s top diplomat in a government dealing with current affairs, is looking to succeed Boris Johnson at 10 Downing Street, who resigned in July.

For this, a majority vote of about 200,000 conservative activists must be collected. Elections are held and the results will be known on September 5. Although the two candidates did not debate directly, they are up against former finance minister Rishi Sunak, who appeared in Norwich on Thursday evening.

“Not in his words, but in his deeds”

Mr Sunak, who is 30 points behind his rival in the latest polls, was asked by the journalist hosting the evening, “Macron, friend or foe? », selecting the first option.

On the other hand, when Ms Truss was asked the same question, she answered “The jury is still out,” Makes the room laugh. “If I become PM, I will judge him by his actions, not his words”She added without elaborating on the reasons for this apparent mistrust.

A number of litigation files exist between France and the United Kingdom, particularly over the management of files post-Brexit, whether in fisheries or Northern Ireland. The two NATO allies have had different approaches to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with the French president defending the need for open dialogue with the Kremlin while Boris Johnson took a very hard line against Vladimir Putin.

Relations between Paris and London were invited back into the conversation a few minutes later, on the United Kingdom’s energy independence, with prices skyrocketing as a result of the explosion in gas prices.

The country must build new nuclear power plants, Ms Truss argued, lamenting its loss of expertise on the matter. To do this, “If the choice depends on France or China, I will choose France”, She launched, and clapped again.