2008 Woodie Awards
Sarkozy's visit prompts renewed ties, raises issues
Michael Bain
Issue date: 11/16/07 Section: OpEd Page
Last week French President Nicolas Sarkozy completed a 26-hour diplomatic whirlwind visit of the United States. After receiving a warm welcome by a joint session of Congress-in stark contrast to Jacques Chirac's under-attended speech in 1996-Sarkozy gave a press conference at Mount Vernon with President George Bush in which the two leaders gushed over the renewed relationship between the United States and France. However, despite the grandiloquent hospitality between the two countries, some real policy differences remain, and the U.S. must seize upon this opportunity to forge a substantively improved relationship with France that addresses key transatlantic issues, particularly with regard to France's role in North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the development of European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP).
Four years after "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast" were added to the menus of the congressional cafeterias, it appears as if the "counter-relationship" between the United States and its oldest European ally has come to a close, and a more congenial, post-Gaullist era has begun. Indeed, Sarkozy and the Bush administration have found points of policy convergence on a number of issues ranging from tightening sanctions on Iran-Sarkozy has been advocating for the European Union to sidestep the United Nations Security Council where China and Russia have been blocking stricter sanctions-to recognizing Kosovo's declaration of independence. Additionally, Sarkozy pledged his desire to maintain France's 1,100-troop contingency in Afghanistan during his address to Congress.
However, Sarkozy's willingness to continue to provide modest support to the NATO forces in Afghanistan touches upon the broader issue of France's continued failure to reintegrate militarily with NATO, more than 40 years after it withdrew from the alliance's integrated command structure.
In the intervening years the French relationship with NATO has been described as an "accordion" relationship in which different French administrations have alternately moved closer and further away from the alliance, all while advocating for independent European Union crisis management capabilities.
Four years after "Freedom Fries" and "Freedom Toast" were added to the menus of the congressional cafeterias, it appears as if the "counter-relationship" between the United States and its oldest European ally has come to a close, and a more congenial, post-Gaullist era has begun. Indeed, Sarkozy and the Bush administration have found points of policy convergence on a number of issues ranging from tightening sanctions on Iran-Sarkozy has been advocating for the European Union to sidestep the United Nations Security Council where China and Russia have been blocking stricter sanctions-to recognizing Kosovo's declaration of independence. Additionally, Sarkozy pledged his desire to maintain France's 1,100-troop contingency in Afghanistan during his address to Congress.
However, Sarkozy's willingness to continue to provide modest support to the NATO forces in Afghanistan touches upon the broader issue of France's continued failure to reintegrate militarily with NATO, more than 40 years after it withdrew from the alliance's integrated command structure.
In the intervening years the French relationship with NATO has been described as an "accordion" relationship in which different French administrations have alternately moved closer and further away from the alliance, all while advocating for independent European Union crisis management capabilities.
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