Fighting talk

The French Foreign Minister, Bernard Kouchner has raised more than a few eyebrows since his appointment four months ago.

His latest salvo came in radio and television interviews earlier this week when he warned that the world should prepare for the worst if a solution could not be found to Iran’s refusal to end its uranium enrichment programme. And the worst, in his words, is war.

His comments quickly made the international headlines and critics at home leapt on them as evidence once again that the man with the real power, Nicolas Sarkozy, wants to change the approach of French foreign policy by adopting a harder line in attempt to improve relation with the United States.

It certainly reflects a break from life under the previous president, Jacques Chirac, when French foreign policy was characterised by a seemingly instinctive distrust of the US. But similarly it would be wrong to imply that Paris is about to become the unofficial European spokesman for Washington. Far from it.

After all just last month Kouchner caused quite a stir when he was quoted as saying that the Iraqi government was not functioning and that its US-backed prime minister, Nouri Maliki, should resign.

Those comments were hardly out of character. Kouchner is a humanitarian heavyweight rather than a diplomat and has often been described as a loose cannon given to plain talking. Rest assured he is unlikely to fear upsetting the White House when he has criticisms to make of US policy.

His appointment four months ago came as a surprise to many. Sarkozy had been rumoured to be about to offer the job to a former Socialist foreign minister, Hubert Védrine - a man much more in the usual mould of the French diplomatic tradition.

But in a daring move, he gave Kouchner the post.

Kouchner is very popular in France, regularly topping the list of the country’s favourite politicians.

In his youth he was a member of the Communist party – until he was expelled – and was one of the leaders of the 1968 students revolt.

He was a co-founder of both Médecins Sans Frontières and later Médecins du monde (he left the former after a bust-up to help set up the latter) and, although never a fully paid-up party member, he served as health minister in three Socialist governments.

In 1999 he was nominated as the first UN Special Representative in Kosovo, a post he held for 18 months.

Kouchner twice narrowly missed out on top international jobs – in 2005 when he was, a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a year later when a contender to become Director-General of the World Health Organisation.

Although he is an internationally renowned and respected figure many put his failure to land either post down to reluctance within the international community to throw their support behind an advocate for humanitarian interventions.

Such qualms however did not deter Sarkozy from offering him the foreign ministry.

Just like his boss, Kouchner holds a world view much more in line with the US model of action than the European one of quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy. It’s an indication perhaps that we can expect a shake-up in French foreign policy along the lines of the one Sarkozy has promised on the domestic front.

There again custom has it in France that foreign affairs are very much the domain of the president. Sarkozy has not chosen the option of appointing a quiet hard-working diplomat unlikely to create a stir, but still has the safety net of tradition. Sarkozy is more than likely to step on to the international stage whenever he sees fit and that has already been demonstrated.

Just weeks after taking office, Kouchner found himself rather neatly pushed to the sidelines in the release of six Bulgarian nurses and a doctor who had had been in jail in Libya since 1999. Rather than Kouchner it was a Sarkozy – albeit that Lady of Mystery and wife of the president who shyly accepted all the glory for her intervention.

A sign indeed that French foreign policy is no longer what is once was.

JS