French-American Foundation Weekly Brief highlights political, economic and cultural news stories related to France and French-American relations as well as trans-Atlantic and European issues.
Leaders from more than 100 nations met in Paris on Friday, July 6, for the third meeting of the Friends of Syria organization and continued to call for increased promotion of democracy and heightened sanctions toward the conflict-ridden nation.
France
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Leaders from more than 100 nations met in Paris on Friday, July 6, for the third meeting of the Friends of Syria organization and continued to call for increased promotion of democracy and heightened sanctions toward the conflict-ridden nation. Some, such as the U.S. Secretary of State criticized China and Russia for blocking efforts to quell the violent oppression of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Deutsche Welle, CNN and BBC reported. The meeting was met with praise as Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announced that Brigadier General Manaf Tlass was en route to Paris on Friday, July 6, after defecting from the Syrian army the day before and calling on others to follow his lead, as covered by AFP and The Wall Street Journal.
President François Hollande met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the cathedral of Reims, commemorating French-German relations on the 50th anniversary of the symbolic meeting between Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer that led to the Elysée Treaty of January 1963 and ushered in a new era in French-German relations, Deutsche Welle and Le Figaro reported. Celebrating a moment in history key to the development of the modern European Union, the two leaders’ gesture was, nonetheless, riddled by recent debate about how to address the debt crisis which threatens the stability of the now-27-nation union and differences of opinion regarding how quickly European economies should create heightened integration lingered within the day’s rhetoric, as covered by the AP and The Wall Street Journal.
Algeria celebrated on Thursday, July 5, the 50th anniversary of its independence from France with a series of events and spectacles recounting the nation’s history, TF1 and AFP. A sensitive part of the nation’s history remains its relationship to France, as the two nations are still plagued with many memories and comforted by few apologies, as covered by Foreign Policy and The Washington Post. The Christian Science Monitor, however, explored the younger generations’ more pragmatic approach to relations between the two nations, which remain closely tied through language, culture and migration.
Education Minister Vincent Peillon met on Thursday, July 5, with about 200 representatives of various educational organizations at the Sorbonne, calling for a period of reflection and planning as the new government plans a “re-foundation” of the French school system. He noted that the coming four months of consideration and study will lead to a report on the reforms to be pursued in October, Le Figaro and Les Echos reported.
After more than two years of analysis, the French Bureau of Investigation and Analysis released its final report on Thursday, July 5, indicating that a combination of technical and pilot errors were responsible for the crash of Air France flight 447 that killed all 228 people aboard off the coast of Brazil, TIME and Le Point reported. The report indicated that the pilots did not act fast enough as speed sensors failed and stall warnings sounded, leading the flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris to plummet into the Atlantic Ocean.
United States
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday, July 3, the United States was “sorry” for the November 2011 U.S. air attack on Pakistan, in an effort to re-establish a diplomatic relationship in the region, The Daily Telegraph reported. In return, the Pakistani government agreed to reopen NATO supply lines into Afghanistan, a crucial move in the gradual recalling of the U.S. military in that region. TIME explored the issue further, calling the apology far from the “unconditional” condolences Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar requested. Furthermore, the thaw in relations carries risks for President Barack Obama, as presidential candidate Mitt Romney has expressed contempt for the Obama administration’s willingness to concede its diplomatic positions. This risk is also felt on the Pakistani side as the move is considered very dangerous, considering the rampant anti-American sentiment coursing through Islamabad. Additionally, the United States will release $1.1 billion in aid from a “coalition support fund” to Pakistan.
Scientists at the Swiss laboratory CERN released a statement on Wednesday, July 4, that they believe to have found the Higgs Boson subatomic particle, a crucial element in the Standard Model theory of the universe, The New York Times and 20 Minutes reported. The particle is said to explain why elements in the universe have mass and diversity, although still shrouded in mystery. Named after the British physicist Peter Higgs, the particle sheds light onto an image of a universe governed by a simple and expressive symmetry, in whose flaws matter is permitted to exist. CERN has announced a conference on July 11 to present concluding remarks on the “God particle,” as covered by Le Figaro.
Rebounding from a “tepid jobs report,” as covered by CBS News, President Barack Obama proposed on Monday, July 9, to extend for another year Bush-era tax cuts for families making less than $250,000 a year, while allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans to expire. This announcement breathes new life into the contentious debate split along partisan lines, with Democrats attempting to expose Republican favoritism toward the rich and the G.O.P blasting Obama for not focusing on creating jobs. This debate underscores a growing Republican malaise toward presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, opined Le Figaro. Prominent conservative outlets, such as the Weekly Standard and Fox News, devote more time to bashing Obama than to praising their champion, a worrisome turn of events for a candidate already seen to be on “autopilot.” The debate over the economy appears to be a central theme for November elections.
In other campaign news, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney reportedly received $106 million in campaign contributions in the month of June, more than $30 million more than incumbent President Barack Obama, as covered by Europe 1. A new campaign record, this sum largely reflects Romney’s longstanding coziness with the high echelons of American finance although does not include the enormous sums raised by ostensibly non-collaborative Super PACs. The New York Times took an in-depth look at the emerging world of Democratic Super PACs in an effort to close this gap, although hampered by progressive trepidation of profiteering and validating an electoral climate decided by the super rich.
Business & Economics
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As investors flock to the perceived safety of France’s economy, three and six-month bonds were sold at the Monday, July 9, auctions at negative rates, according to Les Echos. This event shows a growing apprehension among European investors, with financier Mathieu Chabran, of Tikehau IM likening buying a French bond to “renting a safe-deposit box at a bank.” However, residents of the Hexagon should not start making down payments on their pied-à-terres yet; President François Hollande warned in a recent statement that France must “mobilize all of its forces…to achieve lasting growth for the years ahead,” as quoted by the Washington Post.
As euro woes continue, Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank, lowered benchmark interest rates to a record-low 0.75 percent on Thursday, July 5, L’Express reported. The ECB has been roundly criticized for not acting more decisively, as poorer countries like Spain and Italy continue to struggle with a lack of capital. However, Draghi showed a renewed willingness to act on Monday, July 9, saying that he will not cut off capital to European banks, as covered by The Wall Street Journal.
As Europe scrambles to address its ongoing debt crisis, Finnish Finance Minister Jutta Urpilainen dropped a bombshell on its eurozone partners on Friday, July 6, by announcing in an interview that the AAA-rated nation would rather leave the eurozone than assume the debts and risks of its fellow nations, notably Spain, from which Urpilainen said collateral would be required before Finland would agree to the bailout package currently in discussion, Forbes and L’Express reported. While a number of Finnish politicians have reaffirmed the nation’s commitment to the common currency, the mention of departure has been seen as a hard stance on the need for accountability for bailouts by one of the union’s remaining AAA economies, according to La Croix.
After being forced to leave his post as CEO of France Télécom in March 2010, Didier Lombard found himself before a French court on Friday, July 6. He was charged in an investigation of mental harassment brought on by complaints by a French labor union after the company saw more than 30 employees commit suicide in 2008 and 2009, Bloomberg and 20 Minutes reported. The case has shifted the discussion on mental harassment in the workplace, as the charges are directed at a CEO and address not personal but institutional actions, notably the suppression of 22,000 and change of 10,000 jobs as part of a restructuring for the French telecommunications giant, as covered by Le Monde.
International
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United Nations special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan announced on Monday, July 9, that he had reached an accord with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as defections from the leader’s repressive army indicate waning support for the internationally contested leader, La Croix, The New York Times and Le Figaro reported. After U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said on Friday, July 6, that the body’s role in Syria would be re-oriented toward a more political role as outside observers have done little to dissuade violence there, Kofi Annan had a “constructive conversation” with Assad on Monday. Following this meeting, he flew to Iran, where he met with leaders of Syria’s Middle Eastern neighbor, which was intentionally omitted from last month’s Action Group for Syria meeting in Geneva, according to Le Monde and The LA Times.
Mahmud Jibril of Libya’s National Forces Alliances called on all parties to come together for unity as the results of elections on Saturday, July 7, indicated that the nation’s “liberal” party was en route to a majority role in the national assembly, breaking with the trend of its “Arab Spring” brethren who have supported their nations’ Islamist parties, Al Jazeera and Le Nouvel Observateur. International observers qualified on Monday, June 9, the nation’s first free elections after the ousting of Muammar Gaddafi, whose rule spanned six decades, a success, according to Reuters and The Christian Science Monitor. Le Figaro examined the “liberal” party that seems poised to gain power with a platform of economic liberalism, though most parties in the nation agree that Islamic sharia law should be a strong component of the nation’s forthcoming constitution.
Newly-elected President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt ordered on Sunday, July 8, the nation’s Islamist-majority parliament to reconvene after the Supreme Constitutional Court, previously in power, ordered the legislative body’s dissolution last month prior to the presidential elections, The Christian Science Monitor and Libération reported. The presidential decree perpetuated uncertainty in the power struggle between the previously ruling military council and top constitutional court that declared legislative elections unconstitutional and sought to limit the powers of the president and the Islamist factions that gained the favor of the nation’s first democratic elections after the ousting of Hosni Mubarak more than a year ago, as covered by The New York Times and Le Monde.
Tunisia called on Thursday, June 5, for a special meeting of the Arab League to explore the 2004 death of Yasser Arafat after Al Jazeera reported that Swiss scientists had found unusually high levels of the poisonous polonium-210 on the Palestinian leader’s belongings, Le Nouvel Observateur and Foreign Policy reported. The former leader’s widow asked that her late husband’s body be exhumed, which the Palestinian Authority agreed to in principle, as speculation about Arafat’s cause of death re-entered the debate, as covered by U.S. News and World Report and CBS.
Mass protests formed outside a Tokyo exhibit of photographs of “comfort women,” Korean women forced into sexual slavery during World War II, as the survivors continue their fight for recognition of the atrocities and demand restitution from the Japanese government, Le Figaro and The LA Times reported. Nikon Corp, which sponsored the show had succumbed to protests and canceled the show until a Tokyo court ordered the photo company to honor its original opening date of June 26, as covered by The Wall Street Journal.