France: US support for Ariel Sharon blocking any progress

In an intervew given by M. Hubert Vedrine, France's minister of foreign affairs, to the "RTL" program "l'invite de Richard Arzt" and asked "is US support for Ariel Sharon blocking any progress towards a political solution? " Vedrine said "This support is encouraging Ariel Sharon to continue with a course of action which can lead only to deadlock, even though the Israeli army is very strong."

He added " But it's in Israel that the strategy will be questioned, because it's the Israelis who are in the front line, who are confronted with the problem, and therefore with the deadlock. I see things stirring again in Israeli society. Concerns are being voiced about the strategy."

The minister was asked the question "You've had real success speaking about the US's "simplistic approach" of reducing all the world's problems to the battle against terrorism. That didn't please the American leaders at all. Colin Powell, US Secretary of State, wondered if you were getting the "vapours". In Tokyo, President Bush said he thought Mr Powell's response was interesting. What's yours? Have you got the vapours?" The French minister said "Powell told us that it had been mistranslated. It means we are getting too overheated. Moreover, he then sought to smooth things over, saying that we're all getting overheated, and we must keep up the dialogue."

Vedrin was asked "George Bush thought it was an interesting idea", to which he replied "It's normal for him to defend his Secretary of State. But, as I said the day before yesterday, these are "robust exchanges" between friends. That doesn't prevent us from talking to each other. On the actual issue you will have noted ten or so European leaders voicing their concerns on certain aspects of the US policy, its global aspects: vis-?-vis the Middle-East, and Iraq, and more specific problems such as Guantanamo. All over Europe, the idea is resurfacing that we are in fact seeking a partnership with the United States. We want them to regard their allies as partners. We don't want them to disengage, but rather re-engage in the multilateral management of the world. Clearly, in the past few months our approaches have not been the same on several points. The Americans don't want to support the Kyoto Protocol against global warming; they are against the International Criminal Court; they have withdrawn from the ABM Treaty, they are against the antipersonnel landmines convention, etc. That's why there have been so many reactions in Europe. It's in no way a Franco-US, but rather a Euro-US phase."