POLITICS: US Prepares to Snub France at G8

By Julio Godoy Reprint | | Print |

Julio Godoy

PARIS, May 30 2003 (IPS) - The G8 summit in the French Alpine city of Evian was expected to ease the diplomatic tension between the U.S. and France, but the U.S. is taking the summit as an opportunity to punish France, officials here say.

The latest U.S. move is that President George Bush will join only half the discussions of the summit Sunday and early Monday, and leave well before the official end Tuesday.

U.S. officials say Bush has to attend Middle East peace negotiations in Sharm al Sheikh in Egypt and Akaba in Jordan.

French President Jacques Chirac said in a statement he had ”absolute understanding” of the reasons given by the U.S. government. But many diplomatic observers see in this a U.S. snub to France.

”Bush’s excuse is a good one,” wrote Pascal Riche, diplomatic correspondent for the newspaper Liberation. ”Who would dare reproach Bush for taking up finally the conflict in the Middle East that he has ignored so long?”

Riche said Bush ”certainly will attend the summit in Evian, but has made sure that everything goes as he wishes.” Bush, he wrote, was acting as an ”occupation soldier” who acts as he pleases on foreign ground.

”When it comes down to decisions, Bush behaves more like GI (a U.S. soldier) than a member of G8,” Riche said.

As host to the event, Chirac has invited the heads of government of 12 countries from Africa, Asia and Latin America, as well as leaders from international organisations such as the United Nations, the European Union, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation.

The most high profile of these guests will be heads of government from India, Malaysia, Brazil, and Mexico – the biggest economies of the southern hemisphere – and of Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, South Africa, and Senegal, who represent the New Partnership for African Development.

It is more usual for G8 summits to bring together the heads of government of the eight most industrialised countries of the world (Britain, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the United States, and the Russian Federation).

Chirac’s new invitations are a part of his policies to push for a multi-polar world, as opposed to U.S. unilateralism. It is this belief that led him to oppose the unilateral U.S. decision to wage war on Iraq.

Chirac had argued that peaceful means, such as further inspection of Iraqi arsenals by UN (United Nations) teams would be enough to disarm Iraq, and to counter any military threat from Baghdad.

U.S. officials responded to French opposition to the U.S. by downgrading diplomatic, military and commercial relations with France.

The U.S. downgraded its participation at the Paris air show next month. It left French officials out of meetings on critical satellite communications. During preparations for the G8 summit, the U.S. government blocked all French initiatives to widen the agenda.

A French ”Plan of Action for Health” was amended by U.S. officials to the point of alteration, and then downgraded on the discussion list. France gave in to avoid further tension.

France also approved the UN resolution proposed by the U.S. government to lift the embargo against Iraq, even though French diplomats considered it flawed..

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had condemned the U.S. proposal on the grounds that it would give total impunity to the occupation forces in Iraq, and place any mismanagement of Iraqi oil resources by the U.S. government beyond legal remedy.

De Villepin had argued also that UN weapons inspectors must certify that Iraq does not possess weapons of mass destruction before it would support an end to the embargo. But France finally approved the U.S. proposal.

So did Germany. But the U.S. is not responding to such gestures. Bush refused to meet German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for confidential talks. U.S. officials leaked statements that relations with Germany would be kept to a minimum.

Bush could not do the same with Chirac in Evian; that would be a diplomatic affront without precedent. Bush will attend the enlarged meeting Chirac has planned with the African, Asian, and Latin American leaders. But he will leave soon after for the Middle East.