Christmas shopping and chequebook diplomacy

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is in town for a five-day visit, camped in the centre of Paris in his luxury Bedouin tent and with a mere 400-strong entourage.

But more importantly he’s here on a pre-Christmas spending spree and has already signed deals with French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, worth €10 billion.

The agreement includes an order for 21 Airbus aircraft, 14 Rafale fighter jets, which incidentally nobody else wants to buy, and a nuclear power plant – for civilian purposes of course.

France, which prides itself as being a standard bearer for human rights and actually has an internationally recognised humanitarian in Bernard Kouchner as foreign minister, has under Sarkozy, studiously ignored Gaddafi’s appalling human rights record.

Indeed Sarkozy has justified his chequebook diplomacy by asserting that France must “speak with all of those who want to return to the road of respectability and reintegrate the international community”.

Oh well that’s all fine and dandy then. Business comes first and clearly €10 billion helps make it easier to ignore the often-alleged torture of prisoners and Gaddafi’s former support for terrorists.

And what great planning to have the Libyan leader’s ‘plane touch down on French soil on International Human Rights day.

The loudest voice of dissent came from Sarkozy’s junior minister for human rights, Rama Yade. Mind you she hasn’t exactly been in the president’s good books recently as witnessed by her being dropped at the last minute from the official delegation during last month’s billion-Euro-contract trip to China.

On Monday, Yade complained to the press about the timing of Gaddafi’s visit and her comments quickly had her hauled in to the presidential HQ – the Elysee Palace – for a severe 20-minute talking to.

Yade left promising to remain quiet and determined not to resign in protest. And that has led some cynics to suggest that in fact Sarkozy himself orchestrated the whole outburst.

It is suggested that he is content to play the boo-man to Yade’s good gal image as long as it helps rake in the contracts for France. Pure fiction?

Well perhaps not. Interestingly enough Yade’s immediate boss, Kouchner, has been noticeably silent about Gaddafi’s visit even though given his track record he cannot be that enthusiastic. Meanwhile the prime minister, Francois Fillon has been shipped off to Argentina for the inauguration of that country’s newly elected president, Cristina Kirchner.

The Socialists and some centre-right politicians have threatened a boycott of parliament on Tuesday when Gaddafi is due to address them. But it’s all really a little half-hearted – and more than a little late.

Slightly odd isn’t it that the loudest voice of dissent comes from within the government itself, from a minister who is no longer talking?

The only conclusion is that once again Sarkozy has trashed human rights and taken complete control for done deals.

A Merry Christmas indeed.