January 13, 2003
LIAISON OF THE LOATHSOME:
Paris-Berlin pact troubled on eve of rebirth (Charles Bremner, January 14, 2003, Times of London)A SCHEME for France and Germany to present a common voice on the world stage hit turbulence yesterday before a meeting today of President Chirac of France and Gerhard Schroeder, the German Chancellor, to finalise plans for a grand relaunch of the Berlin-Paris alliance.Berlin?s senior official in charge of the Franco-German relationship said that talk about a new European foreign policy would be meaningless if France sided with the United States against Germany in a future United Nations Security Council vote on Iraq.
Differences over Iraq, with Germany opposed to any military action and France open to a UN-approved use of force, highlighted the hurdles facing M Chirac and Herr Schröder as they meet in Paris tonight to finalise the renewal next week of the 1963 pact between the former wartime foes.
"Iraq will be the acid test for the claim that we want to cultivate special relations between the two countries," Rudolf von Thadden, the co-ordinator for Franco-German relations, said. "If Germany and France do not vote together on the Iraq question . . . then it will be difficult to pursue a common foreign policy in coming years."
The remarks reflected frustration at the gulf between French talk of support for European Union actions and the assertive, nationally minded role that M Chirac's administration plays in international relations. Although Germany strongly supports an EU approach to foreign policy, France, like Britain, has no qualms about flexing its muscles as a permanent member of the Security Council.
A common voice at the 15-member council, at which Germany and Spain hold rotating seats this year, is part of the Franco-German scheme for bolstering the partnership and reshaping the EU.
Reading this you know how someone must have felt 60 years ago when the Times ran stories about snags in the Molotov-Ribbentrop talks. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 13, 2003 7:03 PM
This shows how ridiculous those charges of "unilateralism" were. Here Germany unilaterally pronounces that it won't support Iraq action, without regard to the positions of its European allies, then it says that any European nation that doesn't support its position isundermining European multilateralism. This is the imperialist mentality applied to diplomacy.
Posted by: pj at January 13, 2003 6:59 PMIf they want a common voice, all they need to is 1) have the French give up their permanent seat at the U.N., 2) give up whatever rotating seats they'd ordinarily receive, and 3) designate the British seat as the "United Europe" seat, and decide amongst themselves how to fill it. The EU would then have, indeed, a common voice.
Instead we'll be treated to a modern version of what Joe Stalin foisted on the U.N. at the beginning, with a permanent seat for the USSR and additional seats for the constituent soviet "republics."