Challenge In Bosnia Renewing Ties Between Britain, France

United by a common threat in Bosnia, Britain and France are revitalizing a friendship strained by years of squabbling.

“On the really important matters we tend to be on the same side more often than not,” British Prime Minister John Major said after a summit in the Elysee Palace with new French President Jacques Chirac.

“We are thinking along the same lines,” Chirac, a fellow conservative, said at their joint news conference.

The two leaders were thrown together last month when the Bosnian Serbs seized French and British U.N. troops as hostages.

Major and Chirac responded by setting up a 10,000-strong rapid reaction force to protect U.N. peacekeepers in Bosnia.

“Britain and France are now cooperating very closely indeed” on Bosnia, Major said. “Cooperation is on a daily basis.”

Major paid tribute to the 39 French peacekeepers who have died in Bosnia and praised the courage of those who recently fought off a Serb assault on a Sarajevo bridge.

From now on, British troops would join their French comrades in responding “robustly” to Serb attacks, Major said.

Beyond the cooperation over Bosnia, the two leaders outlined united positions on issues ranging from boosting trade with the United States to fighting unemployment.

‘We want to increase our cooperation in various fields, in particular the military,” Chirac said. He and Major scheduled another round of talks for next month and a summit in London on Oct. 30.

In recent years the two partners in NATO and the European Union have bickered over defense cooperation, workers’ rights, beef exports and other issues.