France keeping back door open
2003-02-02 09:27
By Isabel Parenthoen
Berlin - As Europe splits open over Iraq, German commentators are worried that when it comes to the crunch, France will ditch its cosy union with Berlin in favour of a more pragmatic relationship with Washington.
Suspicions that the promises of Franco-German cooperation on Iraq could be little more than diplo-speak bubbled to the surface after an open letter from eight European leaders supporting the United States.
True, French President Jacques Chirac was not among them. Nor was Germany's Gerhard Schroeder. They had been left out in the cold.
But it still raised speculation that Berlin, which is now presiding the UN Security Council, may find Paris not as faithful a partner as believed.
Unlike Germany, the French government has not ruled out voting in favour of war at the Security Council, nor taking part in any military action.
It has thus left its options open - and the consensus among analysts here was that in the end, Paris will decide what to do based on its own interests, not what Berlin would like.
"I have serious doubts about the France-German entente," said Klaus-Dieter Schwarz, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.
"France has not said 'no' (to a war on Iraq) on principle like Germany has. It has oil interests to defend," he said.
"Paris is leaving its options open," he added, pointing to the presence in the Gulf of a French aircraft carrier and other vessels.
Other German commentators were equally wary.
"When things get serious, Jacques Chirac will be at the side of the United States," decided the conservative Die Welt, one of the few to welcome the open letter urging solidarity with Washington's tough stance on Iraq.
It said the letter was a "stop sign" to Schroeder, who it claimed had been using anti-war rhetoric to seek domestic political advantage.
Schroeder's centre-left government scraped through last September's general election partly thanks to his opposition to war.
Ten days ago, with two key state elections this weekend no doubt uppermost in his mind, he strengthened his position by saying Germany would not vote in favour of military action at the Security Council.
Schroeder "has shut the door and given himself no room for manoeuvre," said Guy Teissier, head of the French parliament's defence committee.
But Chirac "has never categorically ruled out" French support for military action if there was "irrefutable evidence" that Baghdad was hiding weapons of mass destruction, Teissier said.
Chirac is keen to keep the debate alive in the Security Council. France is one of the five permanent members with a veto, giving it as much weight as the United States.
Germany, in contrast, is one of the 10 rotating members without a veto.
In lavish celebrations last week marking the 40th anniversary of a postwar friendship treaty, the French and German leaders put on a show of unity on the Iraqi question.
They called for weapons inspectors to be allowed more time in Iraq and for the peaceful implementation of UN disarmament resolutions.
"It's our common foreign policy," Chirac said then.
But Die Welt, referring to the open letter, thought Paris would rather keep its great-power influence than ally itself with a lone Germany.
"After yesterday, Germany can imagine just how isolated it would be then," it warned. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA