French diplomacy - "amateur, impulsive and lacking coherence "

Those were the words used to describe France's foreign policy and in particular its diplomacy, under its president Nicolas Sarkozy.

They came in an open letter published on Wednesday in the national daily, Le Monde from the Marly group, a collection of French diplomats, retired and serving, of all political persuasions, who were anonymously but collectively airing their concerns.

French foreign affairs and its diplomacy, certainly seem to have come in for a fair bit of scrutiny recently - and this week's events have perhaps only highlighted how much.

Take for example the first visit of a French government minister to Tunisia since that country's Jasmine revolution.

French foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie

In fact there wasn't just one minister but two; Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, and Laurent Wauquiez, the minister for European affairs.

Notice anything odd...apart from the fact that France saw in necessary to send a minister responsible for Europe to a country in North Africa?

Yep, the absence of the foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie (MAM) who had been dispatched to Brazil out of harm's way.

She, MAM, justified her visit to South America as being more "pragmatic".

"The visit was planned over a month ago and Brazil is a country with which we have a very important relationship," she is reported to have said in an informal conversation in the capital Brasilia.

Of course foreign ministers cannot change plans at the last minute to react to changing situations, and her absence in Tunisia had nothing whatsoever to do with the ongoing controversy there has been over her holidays there earlier this year.

So it was left to Lagarde and Wauquiez to build bridges with the finance minister telling journalists that she was confident the relationship between the two countries had not been harmed and Wauquiez mooting the idea of economic aid in the form of a "Marshall plan for Tunisia"

"We've come, not to lecture but to listen to their needs," he said, clearly aware of the fact that there are over 1,200 subsidiaries of French companies in Tunisia and there are interests to be protected.

Strangely silent and hovering in the background was the recently appointed ambassador, Boris Boillon.

He seemed almost, as some commentators back home in France observed, to be paying penance for the insulting remarks he had made to a journalist last week and which resulted in protests calling for his resignation and a subsequent very public apology on national television.

"Sarko boy" was on his best behaviour. Perhaps he had wind of an old can of worms that had been reopened in the form of an appearance he had made on the early evening news magazine Le Grand Journal on Canal + television last November.


Boillon défend Kadhafi (C+)
envoyé par LePostfr. - L'info video en direct.

During the interview Boillon had defended Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, saying he had been a terrorist but wasn't any longer.

"We all make mistakes in life," he said. "And we all have the right to another chance," he said after admitting that Gaddafi had referred to him as "his son".

Boris Boillon (screenshot from Le Grand Journal)

Yes old news - well not so old - but certainly words that seem misplaced with hindsight.

To top it all off was the publication on Wednesday in Le Monde of that open letter from the Marly grop.

"Amateur, impulsive, obsessed with the media and a lack of coherence" were the main criticisms aimed at the current state of affairs.

"Our foreign policy is one of improvisation often undertaken with respect to domestic political considerations," they wrote.

A bold move as far as the weekly news magazine L'Express was concerned and one "which coming from a group of people known for their discretion, indicated how worrying the situation was."

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.

Pressing the flesh

We all know how much politicians enjoy the round of hand pumping, back slapping, lip smacking, baby holding photo ops when they’re out there campaigning among we mere mortals, but heavens, it seems to have spillt over into high-powered love fests.

Welcome to the world of Touchy Feely G8 leaders. And once again the French are taking the lead in this refreshingly modern open-collared diplomacy. New boy Nic endearingly has invaded everybody’s personal space in that most Mediterranean of ways. He was spotted stroking Blair on the arm, planting his now customary greeting kiss on Merkel’s cheeks and even getting tactile with Bush as they gently brushed arms.

And he seemed to be getting downright too chummy with Putin – remember the geezer who waited two days before getting on the blower to congratulate him in May when he won the election.

Leaving politics aside, the burning question on everybody’s lips here in France is just who was on the ‘phone when Nic was seen strolling along with Vlad.

Grins galore (on the French side), Gr8 eye contact as the two men meander down the road mobile ‘phone pressed briefly against Our Esteemed Leader’s ear and then he passes it to a slightly startled fellow Head of State.

So…. to start with, who the heck among the French entourage speaks Russian? And more intriguingly who exactly was on the other end of the line and what did they say?

The political love-in over the past couple of days has certainly offered the opportunity to ponder some disjointed and not-so-interesting observations.

Bush apparently wants any future international agreements or frameworks (poor man can’t decide which) on climate control to be UN-led……that’ll be a first for him. Up until now he hasn’t really shown much enthusiasm for multilateral decisions. And Bless Him for claiming to protect the interests of India and China. They’ll be pleased won’t they?

Meanwhile Putin clearly called the US’s bluff by offering to use a radar system in Azerbaijan to develop a shield to detect incoming missiles from those rogue states who make up the Axes of Weasels. By the way, does he ever smile?

As the Magnificent 9 (clearly Barroso just can’t be kept away from a party) ambled along in pairs in the sunny Baltic resort of Heiligendamm. (just couldn’t resist a bit of journalese there) why did nobody appear to be talking to Abe?

Is it possible that Prodi has the same hairdresser as Bernadette Chirac? That’s some thatch there on his bonce. It’s hard not to be envious.

With water already one of the world’s most valuable commodities, how (in)appropriate was it for the kindly German police to point their cannons at those terribly nice protesters in an attempt to blast them to Kingdom come.

And a free eco-friendly McDo to anyone who can name the Canadian prime minister (without Googling I might add).