THE French Foreign Minister, Mr Herve de Charette, has played down EU divisions over the US bombing of Iraq, while reiterating French concerns on the situation in northern Iraq.
In an interview given to The Irish Times in Tralee last weekend during the EU Foreign Ministers' informal meeting, Mr de Charette also made it clear that France believes all EU members states should and will sign up to a common European defence. Although acknowledging difficulties for neutrals, he said he believed there was already an evolution in thinking among them in the direction of a common defence.
Mr de Charette (58), who entered politics at the instigation of the former president, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, is chairman of one of the constituent parties of the Union pour la Democracie Francaise, the PPDF.
A former minister for housing, appointed last year as foreign minister by President Chirac, he had a baptism of fire in the EU following the decision to resume French nuclear testing, which Mr de Charette was forced to defend to deeply sceptical foreign ministers.
Since the ending of the tests, France has gone out of its way to rebuild bridges - most notably with the Germans - Mr de Charette will be meeting the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, ahead of the Dublin October 5th summit to agree on a common position at the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference.
Mr de Charette insisted that even if the EU had expressed differences on Iraq it was important not to exaggerate them. Europe agreed on two very important elements, he said. "On the one hand, the respect for the territorial integrity of Iraq which is key to the stability in the region". On the other, was "the necessity not to use these events (the Iraqi attacks on the Kurds) as a pretext for putting off the application of UN resolution 986 allowing Iraq to sell oil for food."
Europe, he said, had an obligation to see that the "hardship of tragic proportions" faced by Iraqi civilians was ended.
He said French reservations stemmed from the fact that none of the UN resolutions forbid Iraqi troops being present in Kurdish areas of Iraq. France would have preferred the use of diplomatic pressure.
Mr de Charette said it was important to strengthen the EU's role in the Middle East, a role sought not only by Israel but its neighbours. He accepted the new Israeli government's assurances that it is committed to the peace process and to the undertakings of the Peres government - "I am delighted (by their assurances) but am losing patience."
On the IGC, did he see a continuity in French policy from what were perceived as the days of the more integrationist Mitterrand government?
"The main difference on the Chirac side," Mr de Charette said, "is a volontarisme - a dynamic political will - put at the service of Europe." President Chirac, he said, had developed a strong relationship with Chancellor Kohl to advance the cause of Europe, whether on the single currency or the Inter Governmental Conference "whose negotiations we hope will accelerate."
He believed the Irish presidency could contribute to this process and hoped that the October 5th Dublin summit would mark an important step in "tightening the debate and progressively narrowly rejected the concept of an avant garde of member states in the EU, he said, but believed the treaty should allow "reinforced co operation - to allow some states to go farther and faster, as long as it is open to others - including Ireland - and as long as there are guarantees built in to ensure that the process reinforces European integration.
He believed a general treaty clause allowing flexibility or reinforced co operation - also known as "coalitions of the willing" - would not pose problems in areas like the first pillar where co operation was already agreed. "I don't think it poses technical or political problems - on the contrary it will allow us to go farther and faster ... and I have no doubt that Ireland as a dynamic State will be among those who press for reinforced co operation and who participate in it."
Mr de Charette refused to be drawn on the single currency beyond reiterating France's determination to respect the Maastricht criteria. Asked if he believed a country with a debt of over 100 per cent of GDP (Belgium) could be admitted to the single currency from day one, or a country with a deficit of 3.2 per cent, just over the treaty limit, Mr de Charette would only repeat that "the treaty must be applied".
He rejected the idea that there would be any question of a "flexible" interpretation of the treaty's requirements. "It is not a matter left to governments, there is a treaty, a text, and we must apply all the text."
But the minister declined all attempts to prise out of him a view of what that text would permit.
On European defence, Mr de Charette insisted that the key development was the process of "renewing the (Nato) alliance which will allow in the heart of the alliance an expression of European identity and the possibility of Europe organising military operations autonomously."
Good progress was being made in this direction, he said, which would be consolidated by December's Nato ministerial meting in Brussels.
And, reflecting a change in French emphasis on the Western European Union, whose integration France had sought into the EU, he argues that the organisation is now simply the means by which the EU can plan operations using Nato assets under European command.
Did he believe it was necessary for all EU members to commit themselves to a common defence? "Yes, of course."
Was that not a problem for the neutrals and non nuclear states?
"Yes, but I think that in these countries the thinking is currently fast evolving towards a consciousness of the guarantees provided to each member state by a European defence identity," the minister argued.
And, his views on the Irish presidency? Mr de Charette said he was fully confident of Irish efficiency and "particularly in Dick Spring, who has already demonstrated his breadth of experience - a mixture of determination and savoir faire."