FRANCE: President Jacques Chirac yesterday used his strongest language yet in warning President Bush against "the unilateral and preventive use of force" in Iraq.
Speaking to France's 268 ambassadors in his annual foreign policy address, Mr Chirac said the looming danger of unilateral US action was not only disquieting: "It is contrary to France's vision of collective security; a vision that relies on co-operation between states, respect for the law and the authority of the Security Council. We shall reiterate these rules as often as necessary, and notably regarding Iraq."
If Iraq persists in rejecting the unconditional return of UN weapons inspectors, the French leader added, "then the Security Council must decide what measures to take". Paris "is still militarily present beside the US and its allies" in the war against al-Qaeda, Mr Chirac noted. That war was not over, "and peace remains fragile and uncertain in Afghanistan."
But in language similar to statements that annoyed US officials in the aftermath of September 11th, Mr Chirac made a veiled criticism of Mr Bush's concentration on al-Qaeda to the exclusion of other issues. "Terrorism is not the only threat, and the world must not be organised solely in function of the challenge raised by September 11th, or we will play into the hands of those we are fighting," he said.
The French President's speech showed how differently Paris and Washington see the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. "Blind and barbarian terrorism has created anguish and exclusive concentration on security in Israeli society," he said. But on the other side, "brutal occupation, the enlargement of the settlements, the suffocation and humiliation of Palestinian society, have engendered only despair and violence".
Criticising the demand of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, that all Palestinian attacks stop before peace negotiations resume, Mr Chirac said: "Any conditions placed on relaunching the peace process help the extremists." Peace must be founded on Security Council resolutions, and must include Syria and Lebanon. Mr Chirac reiterated the EU's call at Seville for an immediate international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian question. He wished "the US, whose role is fundamental in the search for a solution, could support it totally".
For the first time since Bastille Day, the French President stressed that candidates from eastern Europe must enjoy all the benefits of EU membership. "Therefore, I will not accept that enlargement serve as a pretext for early reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, a reform that cannot take place before 2006, in accordance with the agreement reached in Berlin."
In language less likely to please Dublin during the Nice Treaty debate, Mr Chirac regretted the slow pace of military integration. "The Europe of Defence, launched in Saint-Malo, needs a second wind," he said. Not only did agreements between the EU and NATO need to be carried out, and UN and NATO forces in former Yugoslavia replaced by EU troops, it was important that Europe "define new missions beyond those of Petersberg, which limit European ambitions". The Petersberg Tasks, to which Ireland is a party, define European peacekeeping missions.
Mr Chirac said the rotating six-month EU presidency "is no longer conceivable in an enlarged Europe"; a president of the European Council must be chosen by heads of state and government for long periods.
It was important "to strengthen the credibility and efficiency" of European foreign policy. "Let us define carefully, in a solemn declaration, the main elements of the Union's foreign policy for the next few years. Let us commit to systematically favouring European interests in crisis situations."
