Keeping balanced ties with US and Europe dominates France's diplomacy in 2004

Keeping balanced ties with both the United States and European neighbors are fundamental policies in French diplomacy in 2004. The French government has worked hard in the year to mend the soured relations with the United States while seeking a stronger and more united Europe to counterweight the US superpower so as to safeguard its own interests.

SOURED TIES BETWEEN FRANCE AND US

Ties between France and the United States were strained in the past two years over a series of international issues, including the US-led Iraq war.

The war met with vehement opposition from France, with President Jacques Chirac making it clear that his country would not send any troops to Iraq. France later refused to dispatch its military officers to NATO bases as part of a mission to train senior Iraqi military commanders for Iraq's post-war construction.

In Brussels on Dec. 9, US Secretary of State Colin Powell criticized six anti-war NATO members for hurting the "credibility and cohesion" of the alliance by refusing to participate in the training program for Iraqi officers.

Powell admitted that "there was a major disagreement (between the United States and France) over Iraq and nobody can paper that over."

Differences on related issues emerged between the two nations as well, notably Iraq's multi-billion-dollar debt. Washington sought to write off 95 percent of Iraq's debt, a generosity that the French side found hard to accept.

Control over the 160,000-strong US-led force in Iraq is another contentious issue between the two countries.

The year of 2004 also witnessed uneasy ties between the two nations over other international issues, such as the Bush administration's newly proposed "Greater Middle East" plan, Iran's nuclear issue and trade and tariff disputes.

REPAIRING TIES

After the Iraq war, both countries felt an urge to mend the fence, not only because the two are traditional allies sharing far more common views than differences, but also they need each other in international affairs, especially in the fight against terror, promotion of freedom and democracy and trade cooperation. Strong transatlantic ties are thus essential for both sides. Both countries took the initiative to hold out the olive branch.

Back in February, the two bitter antagonists returned to the United Nations and sat down together for discussions on Iraq's post-war reconstruction.

US Secretary of State Powell and the then-French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin emphasized their countries' shared concern for rebuilding in Iraq a year after the two diplomats clashed at the world body over the US case for war.

The two officials used the 60th anniversary of the Normandy landings that helped free France from the Nazi yoke to pay effusive tribute to a 200-year-old alliance re-forged in the fire and fury of the June 6, 1944, landings. By calling each other an "eternal ally," the two nations reiterated their determination to repair relations and push the relationship back to the normal ally type.

"We have never been at war, and we have always been friends and allies," said Michel Barnier, the current French foreign minister in an interview in June while describing the relations between the two countries.

"This friendship is everlasting, and the alliance, while not an allegiance, is equally lasting," he noted.

Late in September, the two nations agreed to cooperate more closely in fighting terror and combating organized crime, signing new deals which both sides said signaled better relations.

On Nov. 4, the following day of US President George W. Bush's reelection, French President Chirac sent him a congratulatory message, hailing Bush's victory and hoping that his second term "will provide an opportunity to reinforce the Franco-American friendship."

Amid the friendly gestures from the French side, the United States tried hard to improve the bilateral relations as well. Secretary of State Powell announced in December that President Bush is going to pay an official visit to Europe next February in a bid to mend fences with European countries and revitalize friendship.

The president "hopes to mend these breaches that have opened in our relationship with France and some other countries, frankly, and that is why he is planning to come to Europe early in his next term," Powell told France 3 television.

He stressed: "We recognize France as a partner, an ally and as an important trading partner of the United States ... We have shared values, yes, we have a common destiny to move into the future, and that will always bring us back together."

As another friendly gesture, President Bush invited President Chirac to visit the United States early next year. Chirac accepted the offer.

Though there are still differences on other issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iran's nuclear issue, the two sides have agreed to sit down and talk. They both admitted that negotiation is the only way to smooth the drape and solve the problem, and they need each other's attention and support on these issues.

SEEKING STRONGER EUROPE

France has mixed feelings for the powerful United States. On one hand, it wants to keep good relations with the world's superpower, and on the other hand, it does not wish to see the United States as the only dominant power in the world. To reach a balance of power in the world, France, as a European country, has devoted itself to building a stronger, more united Europe.

And in doing so, France has chosen Berlin as a strategic partner. The reconciliation between the two ancient enemies was notably completed by their refusal to back the Iraq war. The French-German engine had already revived after Gerhard Schroeder became German chancellor in 1998.

In February, France and Germany worked together to seek British support to form a troika to lead the EU, which on May 1 admitted 10 new members to form an enlarged 25-member bloc. They are still debating on the entry of other countries which are still left out into the big European family, including the contentious Turkey.

Aside from expansion plans, France is also helping the EU to boost its political, economic, military and cultural strength, in order to form "a more democratic, stronger and more effective Europe."

President Chirac, in a speech in November in London, urged Europe to "strengthen its unity and dynamism" in the face of US might.

"The world needs a strong Europe in a re-forged transatlantic partnership to build the new world order that will guarantee lasting peace, security and economic and human progress," Chirac said.

During an interview with the French newspaper Journal du Dimanche in June, French Foreign Minister Barnier warned that no nation, including the United States, benefits from a world which is dominated by a single superpower. He asked the United States to realize that Europe is ready to play a major role on the world stage.

"The United States must understand what we are doing in Europe, " Barnier said, adding, "Despite the difficulties of 25 nations working together, we want and need to organize ourselves as a global political actor."

As such, the 25-member European Union will move toward taking steps to provide for its own security and push with all its weight for a new world order, the minister said.