27/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - In his speech made on Wednesday 26 March to the British parliament, Nicolas Sarkozy, appealed for a Franco-British friendship at the service of Europe. The French president declared that “France and the United Kingdom have never been so close or linked to each other” and the moment had therefore come for “a new Franco-British fraternity”. Mr Sarkozy added: “What we do today will only have a sense to it if we accomplish it first of all in Europe…we cannot construct a prosperous, democratic and efficient Europe, without the United Kingdom”. He also affirmed that he was “convinced that in today's Europe, the Franco-German engine is indispensable. But it is not enough. To bring the 27 (member states) together, we first of all need this new Franco-British understanding. (A.B.)