The Hindu : France plays a hand

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Friday, Aug 16, 2002

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France plays a hand

By Vaiju Naravane

Lopsided now, with excellent political relations far outweighing economic ties, the Franco-Indian relationship could find further sustenance through increased military cooperation.

LAST MAY, the French President, Jacques Chirac, re-elected to a second term in office, appointed his head of Cabinet, Dominique de Villepin, as the new Foreign Minister. For seven years of loyal service, the man who claims he "managed the brains of the President" was rewarded with the three-in-one portfolio of foreign affairs, cooperation and development and "Francophonie" — the spread of the French language and culture abroad. Insiders say Mr. de Villepin would have preferred the prime ministerial chair but had to be content with second choice.

The election was both surprising and paradoxical. The former because the extreme right wing leader, Jean-Marie Le Pen, edged out the socialist candidate Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin, from the second round. The latter because Mr. Chirac, who received the lowest-ever percentage of votes for a first round front-runner, finally won the second round run-off against Mr. Le Pen by a record 82 per cent of the vote — the largest margin since the current French Constitution was adopted in1958. Left-wing voters whose apathy and divisions were partly responsible for Mr. Le Pen's strong showing, rushed to the defence of "La Republique" and its values of liberty, equality, fraternity, giving Mr. Chirac, their traditional adversary, unrivalled hold over power.

In order to consolidate his gains and avoid another spell of co-habitation — France's unique power-sharing exercise under which the President and the Prime Minister belong to opposing political families — Mr. Chirac hastened to appoint a new Government that promised "movement, action, results".

Between the presidential and parliamentary polls, he had six full weeks to convince voters to put a conservative legislature in place. The Government promised increased social benefits and public spending, a crackdown on crime and illegal immigration and reduced taxes. Implicit in these promises was a higher profile for France in world affairs, in keeping with the conservative, especially Gaullist, notion of the greatness of the French nation. Now that the President has a free hand again, the Chirac-de Villepin duo is determined to give greater weight, thrust and cogency to French foreign policy.

It was in the run-up to these elections that Mr. de Villepin, a published poet and hagiographic biographer of Napoleon Bonaparte, brought out an impassioned manifesto entitled "The Cry of the Gargoyle" propounding ethical political activism. "Our history, like a palimpsest, is written on the scarred body of our nation", he says, decrying what he calls France's elitism and court culture. He urges movement and action, a mental revolution, in order to shake democracies out of their torpor. Mr. de Villepin is impatient for "concrete results", a fact evident from his many declarations since assuming office in May. For seven years from 1995 to 2002, during Mr. Chirac's first presidential term, Mr. de Villepin served as head of the Cabinet. The 48-year-old former career diplomat, is cordially disliked by elected politicians for whom he reportedly harbours mostly disdain. Mr. Chirac, however, places unbounded confidence in his gauntly elegant, silver-haired grey eminence, having retained his services despite an electoral fiasco in legislative polls in 1997 held on, among others, Mr. de Villepin's recommendation. Frankly admiring of his top lieutenant, Mr. Chirac once said: "Villepin catches on with fantastic speed. It is rare to meet a man like him, a poet who is also an excellent leader of a commando squad!"

France as a major regional power is considerably worried about the "Hegemon Factor" and has repeatedly spoken out against a world totally dominated, politically, economically, culturally, technologically, by what the former French Foreign Minister, Hubert Vedrine, described as "a dangerously simplistic hyper-power''. French concerns, despite the blooming Indo-U.S. affair, have found a sympathetic echo in New Delhi. It was under the Socialist Government that the real rapprochement between India and France took place. Mr. de Villepin who has served in India as the number two at the French mission, headed the Cabinet of Juppe when he was Foreign Minister and since has been advising Mr. Chirac is credited with a pivotal role in changing his Government's perception of India.

France claims there has been a shift from its earlier position of total parity between India and Pakistan, saying it has plumped for India as an equal partner in its attempts to build a global coalition for a multi-polar world. France loses no opportunity to remind New Delhi of its support for India's bid for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat or its understanding of India's position in the wake of its nuclear tests. This reassessment, French diplomats say, was influenced by events that shook up rigidly held Cold War positions such as the fall of the Berlin Wall, the crumbling of the former Soviet empire and the emergence of the United States as the sole superpower.

However, France has no intention of demoting Pakistan to a second rank regional power and Paris continues to maintain excellent relations with Islamabad. Although no new military contracts are in the pipeline, Pakistan remains France's top military client in South Asia. France has Pakistan's ear and, diplomats suggest, New Delhi might be wise to use French influence with Islamabad for further back channel communication. Clearly, France is eager to play a role in the Subcontinent, just as it craves mediation in the Middle East imbroglio.

Since assuming office in mid-May, Mr. de Villepin has undertaken a flurry of high-profile visits and not just to countries where France has traditionally held sway. These took him to Washington, Germany, the European Union headquarters in Brussels, the Middle East, Russia and Africa, where he visited both Francophone former colonies as well as Lusophone Angola and Mozambique, in an attempt to signal renewed French interest in the continent.

The message Mr. de Villepin carried was clear: Mr. Chirac places foreign policy, of which he is the sole inspiration and arbiter, high on his political agenda. The change is evident. Eschewing the socialists' moralistic approach to foreign policy, France has refrained from bringing up the human rights issue in Chechnya with the Russians. The same can be expected from the French on Kashmir.

Mr. de Villepin with his penchant for "movement and action" suggested India de-escalates, starts a dialogue with Pakistan while cracking down on terrorism. New Delhi's appreciation of the level of infiltration in Kashmir also does not quite square with the French contention that infiltration has been reduced to a trickle. The External Relations Minister, Yashwant Sinha's declarations ruling out immediate de-escalation or a swift resumption of dialogue, also clearly indicated New Delhi was not buying the French line that India should not push Pervez Musharraf further into a corner.

As far as bilateral ties go, both India and France explored the possibility of further cooperation in the civilian nuclear field. Heightened military cooperation too is on the cards although the Defence Minister, George Fernandes, did not meet the French Foreign Minister. The economic relationship between the two countries, although growing, leaves much to be desired, with France's direct investment in India amounting to just under three per cent of the total foreign investments in the country. Lopsided now, with excellent political relations far outweighing economic ties, the Franco-Indian relationship could find further sustenance through increased military cooperation. India has objected to French arms sales to Pakistan but has made few purchases itself. New Delhi is looking at several options especially in the naval domain and talks are advancing rapidly. As a French diplomat formerly posted in India said, "with all the political investment we have made in India, there has to be some payback. We'd much rather sell arms to India than to Pakistan. But sell them we must and sell them we will".

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