French FM cautions Romania against intimate ties with US

Xinhua ^ | 2005-02-26

[Lukasz]

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 even an older ally of Washington. However, he added: "Alliance does not mean allegiance."

Barnier said his country has "some difficulty" to understand a "Bucharest-Washington-London axis" suggested by Romanian PresidentTraian Basescu in his inaugural speech in December.

"I understand that it is legitimate for Romania to demonstrate its friendship with the United States and the United Kingdom," he conceded.

Barnier, who was in Romania for a one-day visit, refused to comment on US plan to set up a military base in the country. Enditem

[Lukasz]

Barnier did recently little trip around the Eastern Europe. I followed his journey and I think that he make there very bad impression. His learning tone is really funny, he is acting exactly like Chirac when Eastern European countries decided to join coalition of willing. But there was no profit for France because of that, some people never learn.

There is nothing about that in this article but Romania also increased recently number of their troops in Iraq.

[Lukasz]

Eastern European ping list

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FRmail me to be added or removed from this Eastern European ping list ping list.

[Lazamataz]

French FM cautions Romania against intimate ties with US

France is a non-shooting enemy of the United States.

[politicalwit]

"European reflex" = European REFLUX"

[wk4bush2004]

All those socialists want to do is steal allies and potential allies away from us. They're trying to form a united front.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

France is ridiculous...

[RichInOC]

And we would caution Romania against intimate ties with France...unless they're planning to wear full-body condoms.

[sassbox]

this is utterly childish. France is acting like the little kid who says "you can't come to my birthday party because you're friends with so-and-so" I hope Romania has enough sense not to listen to this sad little man Barnier.

[Torie]

The smaller the dog, the more they yap.

[Righty_McRight]

I wish France would stop plotting against the US. The EU is pressuring Poland not to buy Boeing Planes also.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1348614/posts#comment?q=1

[aculeus]

Romania also increased recently number of their troops in Iraq.

Bravo! The moral and ethical center of Europe has moved eastward.

[Natural Law]

Like all failing socialist endeavors, France is looking for a broader base to support their largess.

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

Eastern Europe would be better off remaining independent or creating a small coalition of former Soviet Union states.

By joining the EU, they will be subjects in a similar situation as before. They will have to obey the dictation of the EU, who will tell them; how much energy they can use, who their friends will be and where there exports will go (EU). It doesn’t seem like it’s worth the trouble.

I’m somewhat surprised that the French are still telling countries not to alley with the US. I thought during the build up to war that they were just trying to protect their interest in Iraq, but it appears to be a deep hatred of Americans.

Holtz
JeffersonRepublic.com

[bd476]

Thank you for the Ping, Ernest and thank you for posting this Lukasz.

Monsieur Barnier is speaking as coherently and with as much force and clarity as Vladmir Putin, in my opinion. It's not Barnier's words but the intent which holds so much meaning.

Bucharest looks like a lovely tourist destination.

[sanchez810]

Their Getting a Base , a big one.

[Quinotto]

Unfortunately, Romania is forced to pay attention to what the frogs are saying for pure economical reasons. Remember, when Romania voted with US in the UN Security Council and were ardent vocal supporters of a military intervention in Iraq, Chirac said that Romania missed a good opportunity to "shut and keep quiet", openly threatening that any continuation of this behavior would risk EU enlargement. In particular he stated, "it would take only one country to say No to enlargement, and enlargement would not go ahead." In addition to the general warning, Mr Chirac singled out Romania for special attention. Noting that they were not included in the current round of enlargement, but that they hope to join the Union in 2007, the slimy French scumbag (aka Chirac) accused them of displaying 'dangerous' and 'childish behavior'. Ominously, he stated, "if they had tried to decrease their chances for getting in Europe, they couldn't have done a better job." However, that didn't stop them to give 100% support to the US and to be the first nation to sign the treaty with US for offering US Armed Forces safe haven from arrests or prosecution, regardless if a crime was committed or not. The Romanians proved to be more even more outspoken, although careful not to exacerbate the situation by stressing that their position remained unchanged. Then Romanian president Ion Iliescu took the strongest stand, rather forthrightly referring to the remarks as irrational, unjustified, unwise and undemocratic. Other officials in the government took a more sanguine view, but were nonetheless clear about their views on the remarks. For example, a senior member of the foreign ministry stated the view that the comments were simply a result of a moment of irritation and stressed that, in the view of Romania, the process of enlargement was irreversible. Finally, there appeared to be a certain amount of understanding about the factors that drove the French reaction, more particularly the deep division that have arisen between the more powerful members of the European Union. One of the more memorable comments about the whole affair came from Adrian Nastase, then the prime minister of Romania, who said, "every time I have an argument with my wife I shout at my sons!"

[Torie]

[sanchez810]

American knows how to treat its allies. Already American Corporations and inverstos have begun investing heavely in Romania, plus it will probably host a U.S. military base.

[Southack]

France continues to conspire, actively, against the U.S.

[tiamat]

Thanks and BUMP!