DAVID STRINGER
Associated Press Writer
LONDON – French President Nicolas Sarkozy marked the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s defiant World War II broadcast from London on Friday, visiting the studio where the leader urged his compatriots to resist the German occupation.
Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, traveled to Britain and toured Broadcasting House, the British Broadcasting Corp. complex in central London where U.K. officials initially refused de Gaulle’s request to air his appeal, but relented after the intervention of British wartime leader Winston Churchill.
The visit comes at a time when Europe is wrestling with economic rather than military challenges, and it offers a further chance for the French president and Prime Minister David Cameron, who took office last month, to strengthen ties.