Today's Date:

Paris, November 17 2003

Q. - The situation is rapidly deteriorating in Iraq. What is France proposing?

THE MINISTER - France's steadfast conviction is that only with a change of approach prioritizing political action will it be possible to end the spiral of violence striking not just Iraq, but her neighbours, from Saudi Arabia to Turkey, as we have just seen with the recent tragic terrorist attacks. At the moment in Iraq, several groups are joining forces to fight the coalition: terrorist networks, national resistance and Islamist groups. To prevent this conflation, sovereignty must be returned to the Iraqis. The international community must work with this recognition of Iraqi sovereignty, which does not imply the departure of the US troops.

Q. - The Bush administration is envisaging the creation of an interim government mid-2004. Is that fast enough?

THE MINISTER - My feeling is that it's too late. We need to move faster. We are in a situation of very great urgency. We must take on board the worries and concerns of the people in that region. In Baghdad there's already an Interim Governing Council, a Constitutional Committee and a Council of Ministers. They each have 25 members. You could, for example, bring all these people together, add representatives of other forces and thereby create a representative assembly which would elect a transitional government with fifteen or so members, all this by the end of the year.
This interim government would embody Iraqi sovereignty and gradually see itself given real executive power. The constitutional process will of necessity be longer. According to UNSCR 1511, the Interim Governing Council must present its plan for drafting a constitution to the United Nations on 15 December. All this is compatible. The accelerated formation of an interim government can fit in perfectly well with a longer process, over several months, leading to the election of a constituent assembly and then formation of an elected, legitimate government. That's the blueprint adopted in Afghanistan. It fills the political vacuum while safeguarding the constitutional process.

Q. - For a long time, France has been proposing a strategy putting the UN at the heart of the system for reconstructing Iraq's political system. But the UN is no longer in Iraq. What should be done?

THE MINISTER - You're right. And this is why, confronted with the deterioration of the situation, we have, for several months, been making active efforts to get the Iraqis' future back under their direct control. Some people may consider this option risky, but it's less risky than this state of suspense and the status quo. Moreover, France is advocating that a special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General go to Iraq in order to work alongside this political and institutional process as it develops, and give it legitimacy.

Q. - Ten days ago, President Bush declared that "the establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution". What do you think about that?

THE MINISTER - France of course shares the goal of a democratic Middle East finding the path to greater freedom, and we have to encourage it. But it can be realized only through a process of reforms involving the people and with them taking the first steps towards it. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we are living through a revolution in the concept of power. Power is no longer linked solely to military, technological and economic power. It also has an identity-based, cultural, religious and spiritual component. If you underestimate this dimension you won't understand how a spirit of resistance can be aroused against everything perceived as domination.

Peoples have a sort of allergy against anything imposed from outside. The neoconservatives in the United States aspire to structure the Middle East through the use of force. I am convinced that this sort of power cannot create an order. You can be understood, respected only if you are capable of understanding the Other, integrating his culture. This is why we are calling for a dialogue between cultures and civilizations.

In the face of the swelling number of crises and challenges - terrorism, nuclear proliferation, organized crime and the environment - which single States, even the most powerful ones, are incapable of resolving on their own, a new world architecture can be secured only with more representative and modernized international institutions, appropriate political, economic and cultural strategies and veritable world governance. Under all circumstances, we have to remain true to the values of democracy.

MIDDLE EAST

Q. - In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict too, power is being thwarted...

THE MINISTER - What is clearly being thwarted is unilateralism, be it military or diplomatic. It's important to give greater priority to collective action. We have a road-map, accepted by everyone and a final goal on which there is general consensus: the creation of a Palestinian State living in peace alongside Israel. Today, for when this process has been completed, we have a number of proposals in the Geneva Initiative particularly on the question of Jerusalem and the right of return. These are very constructive contributions which light the way forward and are complementary to the road-map. What is difficult is to trigger the momentum. We have to end the preconditions battle and ensure the terrorists don't hold peace to ransom. The international community must encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to make the vital gestures: halt the violence, end the settlements policy and pull the Israeli army out of the Palestinian territories. It must then pledge to render the peace process irreversible. The organization of an international conference and deployment of a force on the ground would contribute to this. (...)./.