Paris has its own history of meddling into affairs of former French West African colonies, Cote D’Ivoire, for instance. The black continent (Libya, Mali) interventions have increased in scale and have become more frequent. It has given a rise to talks about the revival of French colonial policy.
Being a leading force at the time of Libyan intervention, Paris moved East with a goal to expand its traditional clout in North Africa. It has not even taken into account the interests of its close NATO ally – Italy. Berlusconi put it straight saying the goal of France was the control over Libyan hydrocarbons and squeezing away all other competitors.
Actually France has refused the course that had been promulgated not so long before calling for comprehensive EU policies to facilitate the regional stabilization and development. The concept of Euro – Mediterranean partnership with Italy and Spain has gradually been fading away from foreign policy priorities list. The situation is rapidly changing, and the impression is that the French elite has decided its hour of triumph is here at hand, the time has come to rejoin the big league of world powers. There is a great temptation to get back from the Fifth Republic to the Third Empire. The France-established post-colonial order creates some ground for such vision. In the 1960s metropolitan France concluded agreements with some former colonies making 14 African states stay in the French franc zone established in 1946. It closely tied their economies to France, even after joining the Eurozone later. Besides, according to the agreements in question France has a right to intervene militarily to maintain and restore internal stability and provide for security of Europeans living in Senegal, the Central African Republic, Chad, Cote D’Ivoire, Gabon and Cameroon.
Read more: War in Mali: France in Africa – Fifth Republic or Third Empire? | Global Research
No comments:
Post a Comment