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With just one-fifth the population of the United States, France boasts the world's second largest contingent of diplomats, and its consulates and embassies number just eight fewer than the State Department's 260.[1] The French investment in its foreign ministry is likewise heavy and demonstrates the importance the French government places on French prestige and grandeur. Under President Jacques Chirac, French foreign policy has become increasingly assertive. Francois Heisbourg, director of the Fondation pour la Recherche Stratégique (Foundation for Strategic Research), summed up French foreign policy as "oppose just to exist."[2]  Such descriptions are not entirely fair, though. While Chirac inherited a French foreign...

BUCHAREST, Feb. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier on Friday cautioned Romania against following the United States too closely, urging it to develop a "European reflex" sinceit wants to join the European Union (EU). "When one is in the European Union, the first reflex should be European. It is in the interest of Romania to have this reflex," Barnier told a joint news conference with his Romanian counterpartMihai Razvan Ungureanu. He reiterated his country's support for Romania's EU membership. It is good for Romania to maintain good relations with the United States, he said, noting that France is...

French Foreign Minister to visit Israel 6 Feb 2005French FM Michel Barnier will visit Israel to learn at first hand about developments in the peace process. (Communicated by the Foreign Ministry Spokesman) The Foreign Minister of France, Michel Barnier, will arrive in Israel for a visit on Sunday, February 6, as a guest of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom. Aside from meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, Michel Barnier will meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Vice Premier Shimon Peres. The visit is intended to enable Foreign Minister Barnier to learn at...

PARIS - Sen. John Kerry [related, bio] will meet Friday with French President Jacques Chirac, U.S. and French officials said. The Massachusetts Democrat who lost the November election to incumbent President Bush [related, bio] has relatives in France and speaks French. Kerry's stop in Paris was part of a trip to Europe and the Middle East, the U.S. Embassy in Paris said Thursday. Kerry was also to meet with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier. The senator's office in Washington did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

...Last week in London, President Jacques Chirac admitted that getting rid of Saddam "may well have been good idea" — then added a big "but" about the wisdom of early elections in Iraq. His argument for delay was based on the claim that he wanted "broader participation" in the elections.... The camp of Saddam nostalgics, including Chirac and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, have... portrayed the hostage-takers and head-choppers who terrorize parts of Iraq as "la resistance" and insisted that they should have a place in shaping the future of the country.... With Bush re-elected, chances of sabotaging Iraq's elections vanished....

...Simmering tensions broke into the open Saturday when nine French peacekeeping soldiers were killed in an Ivorian government air raid. The French were enforcing a nearly two-year-old ceasefire between northern Muslim rebels and the Christian-dominated government in Abidjan, on the southern coast. President Laurent Gbagbo's spokesman called the bombing a "mistake," but it looked, and worked, like a tailor-made provocation. Paris had no choice but to retaliate so it attacked and destroyed the state's tiny air force. French troops "occupied," if we may use that word, the two biggest airports. As if on cue, Mr. Gbagbo's lieutenants incited anti-French sentiment...

...A survey of Muslim views over the past weeks shows overwhelming, though not unanimous, condemnation of the Beslan massacre. But in all cases the reasons given for the condemnation are political rather than religious. Muslim commentators assert that Russia, having supported "the Palestinian cause," did not deserve such treatment.... Implicit in all this is that killing innocent people in the lands of the "infidel" is justified for as long as the victims are not citizens of states sympathetic to "the Arab cause," whatever it happens to be at any given time. That position was highlighted in the Arab reaction to...

New French Foreign Minister Eyes Revived U.S. Ties Thu Apr 1, 2004 09:37 AM ET By Kerstin Gehmlich PARIS (Reuters) - Michel Barnier's toughest task in his new role as French foreign minister is to patch up ties with Washington -- and his moderate manner is seen going down better than that of flamboyant predecessor Dominique de Villepin. Barnier, 53, formerly a European Union commissioner, took on his new job in a French cabinet reshuffle on Wednesday after the conservative government's rout in regional polls. One French newspaper dubbed him a "plodding European, with no style," but analysts said those...