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| Europe |
| Anti-French sentiments expanding |
| 2005-08-06 |
| EFL GENEVA -- Resentment of France is growing in Eastern Europe where French policies are perceived to be anti-American and undermining the European Union's cohesion. Diplomats describe the mood as "Francophobia" and attribute it to various statements by French President Jacques Chirac and to the rejection by French voters of the proposed European constitution. According to one assessment, "The vast majority of people in Eastern and Central Europe is highly critical of French diplomacy. They consider the United States to be the big winner of the Cold War and the most influential power in the world." "We tend to blame the French for everything -- or almost everything," said Jan Eichler of the Institute of International Relations in the Czech Republic. According to Polish sources, suggestions have been posited in the former communist countries for a more balanced policy by the EU that would see the United States as a partner, not as a competitor. Some diplomats say French prestige and France's role as one of the union's dominant powers have suffered. These developments come at a time when there are no clear suggestions as to how the EU should cope with the current situation, with the constitutional project frozen after the "no" votes in the referendums in France and the Netherlands. According to former Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek, "No major European institution has had the courage to analyze the present situation, nor to speak of strategy for the future." Mr. Eichler, in Prague, said: "The French rejection of the constitution has revived Francophobia whose historic and sociological roots have existed for a number of years. The heritage of Gaullism and of most French decisions of that period are often presented as treason, particularly the French withdrawal from NATO's military structure." |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |
| #5 The French had a good relationship with the USSR in some respects. They quit NATO very early in the Cold War, re-joining only once the Soviets had fallen. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-08-06 18:44 |
| #4 The French had a good relationship with the USSR in some respects. The backlash is and will be with France" for sometime. I am also a proud Francophobe. I tell my wife (a teacher of French language) she is preparing her student for intelligence gathering against our open enemy. She agrees. |
| Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom 2005-08-06 17:39 |
| #3 The eastern Europeans are remembering when Russia's foot was on their back and old Europe just shrugged, but those "arrogant cowboys" of the US just kept at it, always encouraging, always watching, always trying to help them move towards democracy and freedom, always pressuring their oppressors. I even saw a picture a Pole (?) had painted showing Richard Nixon, in a Moses role, leading the artists nation to freedom. Such feelings are long remembered. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2005-08-06 17:24 |
| #2 Eastern European women are way better looking anyways...good to know someone's finally on our side. |
| Posted by: bonanzabucks 2005-08-06 16:30 |
| #1 "We tend to blame the French for everything -- or almost everything," That's cool; usually it's |
| Posted by: Raj 2005-08-06 14:49 |