One week before the vote, where do candidates stand on foreign policy?
One week before the presidential election, the french newspaper Le Monde asked François Bayrou, Ségolène Royal, and Nicolas Sarkozy to give their opinion on the following foreign policy topics.
- On a nuclear Iran : The three candidates agree that the West should be firm and reinforce sanctions. Sarkozy differs from Bayrou and Royal regarding the UN – a UN solution would be the best, but, as Sarkozy says, “nothing should be excluded at this stage. What will matter is efficiency.” It means that if the UN does not prove to be the best vehicle for a solution, other options like a “coalition of the willing” should be considered.
- On Darfour: All candidates criticize the Sudan government, which should respect UN Security Council resolutions. Sanctions should be reinforced, in particular as far as the freezing of financial assets are concerned. Royal argues for the deployment on the ground of a African Union peace building force.
- On the arms embargo on China: The three candidates argue the embargo should not be lifted as long as China does not improve human and minority rights on its territory. This is the only weapon the European Union has to pressure Beijing.
- On missile defense: When asked if a U.S. anti-missile defense system should be reinforced in Europe (Poland and the Czech Republic), the three candidates favor a sharing of means between Americans and Europeans. The real question here, for Sarkozy, Royal, and Bayrou, is to have a renewed conversation on European defence policy.
- On EU’s and NATO’s enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia: all candidates say this is not an option for now. A special partnership should be devised with these two countries.
All in all, the three candidates are pretty much on the same line on these issues. It may have to do with the fact that questions asked by Le Monde were too large to push them to adopt more specific or strong positions. It may also have to do with a classical cautiouness, the vote being so close in time..
Amaya Bloch-Lainé & Edouard de Tinguy