EU FOREIGN POLICY FAILS

EU foreign policy failed on Lebanon, Chirac says
28.08.2006 - 17:38 CET By Andrew Rettman

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The Middle East crisis has exposed weaknesses in EU foreign policy with the 25-member bloc reacting too slowly to stop the destruction of Lebanon, president Jacques Chirac said at an annual gathering of top French diplomats in Paris on Monday (28 August).

Europe was insufficiently active in the Lebanese crisis, although France had recommended on a number of occasions that the high representative be given a mandate to speak out on behalf of the 25 member countries, as he is doing on the Iranian issue, Mr Chirac said.

The future of the European project is today predicated on Europe's ability to be a leading political player," the president added. It must be a player able to contribute to a constructive dialogue with the major world powers.

The EU's so-called high representative on foreign affairs, Javier Solana, flew to Lebanon at the height of the conflict in July but the Finnish EU presidency all-but-ignored Mr Chirac's 20 July plea to give the unofficial EU foreign minister special powers in this case.

Speaking at the time, EU diplomats said the UK was unwilling to let Mr Solana negotiate for the whole bloc because there was no unanimity on how to handle the crisis, while other EU states were afraid of losing control in foreign policy areas.

Meanwhile, Lebanese and Israeli diplomats grumbled about having to host a plethora of EU entities such as Finnish presidency officials, member states' diplomats and European Commission staff.

Lebanon in ruins

The 34-day conflict that started on 12 July claimed over 1,300 lives with Israel continuing to enforce a partial air and sea blockade to stop arms flows into the region.

In a few short days we saw Lebanon laid to waste, its people battered, 15 years of [diplomatic] effort laid to waste,Mr Chirac said on Monday, after the EU last week reached agreement on contributing between 7,000 and 9,000 troops to a new UN peacekeeping force in the region.

The EU's efforts to agree on troop numbers also cast the bloc's foreign policy in a murky light. Many EU states, including France, initially hesitated to commit ground troops, with France eventually agreeing to lead the EU contingent for a while before Italy takes over.

A handful of EU soldiers has already arrived in Lebanon to begin reconstruction efforts, but the first major wave of 3,000 to 4,000 international troops is set to land next week to help enforce a fragile ceasefire with Israeli hostages still in the hands of Hezbollah and Hamas militants.

Special relationship

France has a special relationship with Lebanon, which it ruled between 1920 and 1943 under the auspices of the UN's predecessor, the League of Nations, with Mr Chirac sympathetic to Israeli security needs but critical of its disproportionate use of force in the brief war.

On Monday, the French leader outlined a peace plan for the region that includes: lifting the Israeli blockade on Lebanon, rebuilding Lebanese infrastructure with international money, engaging diplomatically with Iran and Syria and creating a viable Palestinian state.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict concentrates all the incomprehension between different worlds, Mr Chirac said. A major danger looms - the danger of estrangement between the different worlds, between east and west, Islam and Christianity, rich and poor.