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French Socialist presidential candidate Segolene Royal (L) meets Friday with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Beirut. She will travel to Israel on Sunday.
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PARIS (EJP)--- France’s Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, who made official this week his desire to become the next President of France, has launched his campaign on TV Thursday night by lashing out at his main Socialist rival’s credentials in international politics.
"On the president’s agenda, there will be the question of Iran," Sarkozy, who heads UMP (Union for a Popular Movement), the conservative governing party, said.
He added : "There will be the question of security in Israel, which is not negotiable. The question of a homeland for the Palestinians. The question of Darfour where a genocide is about to take place, the question of boosting the European project. Do you really think that it is enough for a president to say to the French: ’I am listening to you, what shall we do?’" “Don’t you think that the role of a politician is dialogue and not only passive listening?,” he added.
It was a clear reference to Ségolène Royal’s comments a few weeks ago on Turkey’s eventual EU accession when she said her opinion would be the French people’s opinion - a statement which earned her sharp criticism even from within her own party.
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Nicolas Sarkozy (L) meeting members of the Jewish community in Paris. |
Sarkozy firmly opposes Turkey’s entry into the European Union.
Sarkozy and Royal are the main contenders in the presidential election which is due in April 2007.
Mideast tour
Royal started Friday in Lebanon a Middle East tour which will also take her to the Palestinian territories and to Israel on Sunday.
Tensions have risen between France and Israel in recent weeks over Israeli reconnaissance flights in southern Lebanon. French troops were seconds away from firing on Israeli warplanes in one incident last October.
After meeting Friday in southern Lebanon with French soldiers of UNIFIL, the United Nations force monitoring a cease-fire in Lebanon between Israel and the Hezbollah, Royal said she will ask Israeli leaders to “stop” flying over the region.
“One must respect the UN mandate, the UNIFIL and these flyovers must stop,” the Socialist candidate said. She is scheduled to meet on Sunday with Israeli Prime minister Ehud Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni.
Pro-Arab vision
France is often seen as harboring a pro-Arab vision in the Middle East and has had tempestuous relations with Israel.
Royal has supported immediately resuming financial aid to the Palestinians and has urged a greater European role in Middle East peacemaking.
Commenting recently on the escalation of violence in the Gaza Strip, she declared : “ Counting on this prospect of civil war to eliminate Hamas would be irresponsible”.
The 53-year-old former environment and family minister has surprised many even in her own Socialist party by her rapid rise to popularity over the past year.
According to the latest opinion poll, published in Le Figaro daily newspaper, Ségolène Royal shows 13 points ahead of Nicolas Sarkozy.