en English

France and America: Echoes of de Gaulle?

PARIS: Little more than a year ago, Bill Clinton and Jacques Chirac were effusive in complimenting each other on their initiatives to stop the Bosnian war. In December, 1995, French foreign minister Hervé de Charette announced a "reorientation" of relations with NATO, from which France under General Charles de Gaulle had, for all practical purposes, withdrawn 30 years before. France again took its seat at meetings of NATO defense ministers, without, to be sure, suggesting reintegration of French forces into NATO's supreme command. France also agreed -- in principle -- with other NATO members on the creation of multinational forces, such as the one organized to separate the warring parties in Bosnia, and on the idea of a "European defense identity," implying reactivation of the European Defense Union, created in 1955 but dormant since. Finally, France participated actively in talks on NATO's eastward enlargement, and on creating a partnership with Russia and Ukraine.

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