Chapter 5
1 Four years after, Kyoto is still an issue of discontent, even among the strongest backers of US foreign policy in Europe, i.e. United Kingdom. At the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January 2005, British Prime Minister Tony Blair presented veiled criticism of the US unwillingness to engage in the Kyoto treaty.
2 Article 5 of the treaty stipulates that “an armed attack against one or more of [the parties] in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all”. Consequently, the parties engaged themselves to “assist the Party or Parties so attacked, by taking forthwith, individually, and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deemed necessary, including the use of armed force […].”
3 For a detailed analysis, see: Parmentier, Guillaume. 2004. Pourquoi les Nations Unies font-elles problème pour l’Amérique ?. Pouvoirs, n° 109, 103–109; and Parmentier, Guillaume. 2003–2004. La ‘doctrine’ de sécurité d’un pays transformé. Commentaire, n° 104, Winter, pp. 879–85.
4 Already perfectly described by Philip Gordon and Jeremy Shapiro in Allies at war: America, Europe and the Split Over Iraq. 2004. New York: McGraw-Hill.
5 «[…] quelles que soient les différences qui nous séparent d’une rive de l’Atlantique, celles-ci restent beaucoup moins prononcées que celles qui nous separent respectivement des autres continents et des autres cultures.»
6 Mr. Cogan is the author of French negotiating behavior: Dealing with La Grande Nation. 2003. Washington: US Institute of Peace Press. p. 364.
7 Vernet, Henri and Thomas Cantaloube. 2004. Chirac against Bush: L’autre guerre. Paris: Lattes (jean-Claude) p. 349.
8 «ll est non seulement allé trop loin, il est allé sur un terrain qui n’est pas le sien […] c’est comme si j’expliquais aux Etats-Unis comment ils doivent gérer leurs relations avec le Mexique.»
9 «pensée unique»
10 For example, leftist Francois Hollande, Secretary General of the Socialist Party, considers that “Europe needs stable and efficient institutions […] or the imperial America will decide the fate of the world on its own”. (Hollande, François. 2004. Interview: “Ce modèle conservateur aura des imitations”. Le Monde, November 5). And apart from pro-Bush rightist deputy Alain Madelin, who called for stopping anti-Americanism and working with the US (Madelin, Alain. 2004. Interview: “Mettre un terme à l’antiaméricanisme”. Le Monde, November 5), the speeches were the same on the majority of the political spectrum.
11 John J. Miller is the co-author (with Mark Molesky) of a recent book called Our Oldest Enemy: A History of America’s Disastrous Relationship With France. In November/December 2004 Foreign Affairs, Stanley Hoffmann, from Harvard University, qualified this book as “shoddy and biased” and said its “authors offers only vituperation and contempt”. To him, “this book is a contribution to our understanding only of US neoconservatism, not of Franco-American relations”.
12 «c’est ainsi que l’Administration MR. Bush est fréquemment perçue comme une aberration passagère, un phénomène transitoire dû à la personnalité tranchee et à l’origine géographique particulière de l’actuel Président, alors que beaucoup de ses décisions reflètent des mouvements profonds de l’opinion americaine, portés par des changements démographiques, économiques et politiques de fond.»
13 At the end of May 2004, seven European countries (Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Czech Republic) claimed that a “clear reference to Europe’s Christian roots” appears in the Constitutional treaty for Europe. After much debate, the idea was dropped at the Brussels European council on June 18.
In October 2004, the European Parliament rejected the nomination of Rocco Buttiglione, Italian Commissioner designate for Justice and Home Affairs because of his much debated statements on homosexuality, women’s place in society and refugees during the Parliament hearings. The ‘Buttiglione Affair’s was comparable to a debate on the moral values of the European Union.
14 Acoording to Mr. Parmentier, leadership for Americans consists in “affirming one’s values without being trapped in the arcance mysteries of problems, which are to be solved by subordinates”.
15 Intervention at the Fifth Annual conference of the French Center on United States, Paris, December 2004.
16 Ecole Nationale d’Administration.
17 Son premier mandat suggère qu’il serait, en cas de réélection, non pas prudent mais audacieux, non pas réactif mais anticipatif, et non pas ennemi mais partisan du risque.
18 étroit partenariat transatlantique.
19 s’il voit une ouverture [il] ne la laissera pas passer.
20 On November 17 2004, Le Monde’s front-page headline described the general feeling in Europe: “Powell’s departure leaves hawks a clear field.”(Le départ de Powell laisse le champ libre aux faucons.)
21 geste inimaginable il y a encore quelques semaines
22 Further to the Oil for Food scandal, a media campaign against France and the United Nations has recently ruined the rest of credibility of the international organisation.
23 On December 13 2004, Joschka Fisher was publicly calling for an association of the United States to the European approach.