After the riots in the Arab world, there comes a mea culpa from France. Attempting to launch a new policy on the south shore of the Mediterranean. "For too long we thought that authoritarian regimes were the only bulwark against extremism in the Arab world - has accepted the Foreign Minister, Alain Juppe, in a public meeting in Paris -.
For too long we have brandished the pretext of the Islamist threat to justify a certain complacency against governments that violate freedom and stifled the development of their countries. " Not surprisingly, Juppe has chosen to extend its olive branch at a meeting held at the Arab on the Spring Institute of the Arab world by Jean Nouvel, a lively cultural center in Paris and most obvious symbol of Arab political and cultural complexity of the universe .
The new recipe of France - dealing with military action in Libya and clear warning about the situation in Syria - have the pillar to open the dialogue with civil society partners "of the Mediterranean countries and those with" current Muslim "who reject the use of violence. Among which even the Muslim Brotherhood, as seems to indicate the minister's visit to Cairo last March.
Not only that. The Quai d'Orsay has been proposed as a pioneer in the revitalization of the European Union for the Mediterranean with a department dedicated to young people. And is ready to earmark 20% of the funds for its development cooperation in those Arab countries are sensitive to democratic reforms, while penalizing those who "do not respect human rights." In his speech, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has also launched a message of a very different tone, considered by the French press is a clear warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when he emphasizes the intention to act "with firmness and with all means at our disposal "before you try human rights violations.
The will of the French Government to close as soon as possible with an uncomfortable past is still quite difficult undertaking, especially since the consequences of the Arab Spring is a headache that the government would rather avoid in times of election and polls decidedly unfavorable to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In particular, the most rugged terrain seems to be Tunisian. While many in Tunis have not yet digested the coolness with which Paris had welcomed the uprising, now seem all the criticism centered around the Ambassador Boris Boillon, after two months ago he refused to respond in a piccata reporters who demanded explanations the French position before the crackdown.
The response has been slow to Tunisia: February 20 more than 3 thousand people protested in front of the embassy asking for his replacement, supported by 19 thousand contacts on Facebook, with the slogan "Boris go." A significant problem, so that for weeks there has been talk of a leadership changes to be assigned to the embassy diplomat Yves Marek, whose father was arrested by Ben Ali in the 80s.
Hypothesis accepted with enthusiasm by the public of Tunisia and over 20 thousand post "welcome" on Facebook. But the change of course never arrived: According to the French press, the causes are to be found in the veto of the Elysee diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte fairly close to the regime of Ben Ali, or perhaps depend on the difficulty of that Juppe to distance itself from pressures of diplomacy until yesterday wary of the Arab riots.
The land is mined, and the trip tomorrow's French foreign minister to Tunis, the first since the change of government and that comes after two postponements, seems to be a decisive test for the future relations between Tunis and Paris. Tiziana Guerrisi Lettera22 
For too long we have brandished the pretext of the Islamist threat to justify a certain complacency against governments that violate freedom and stifled the development of their countries. " Not surprisingly, Juppe has chosen to extend its olive branch at a meeting held at the Arab on the Spring Institute of the Arab world by Jean Nouvel, a lively cultural center in Paris and most obvious symbol of Arab political and cultural complexity of the universe .
The new recipe of France - dealing with military action in Libya and clear warning about the situation in Syria - have the pillar to open the dialogue with civil society partners "of the Mediterranean countries and those with" current Muslim "who reject the use of violence. Among which even the Muslim Brotherhood, as seems to indicate the minister's visit to Cairo last March.
Not only that. The Quai d'Orsay has been proposed as a pioneer in the revitalization of the European Union for the Mediterranean with a department dedicated to young people. And is ready to earmark 20% of the funds for its development cooperation in those Arab countries are sensitive to democratic reforms, while penalizing those who "do not respect human rights." In his speech, however, the Minister of Foreign Affairs has also launched a message of a very different tone, considered by the French press is a clear warning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when he emphasizes the intention to act "with firmness and with all means at our disposal "before you try human rights violations.
The will of the French Government to close as soon as possible with an uncomfortable past is still quite difficult undertaking, especially since the consequences of the Arab Spring is a headache that the government would rather avoid in times of election and polls decidedly unfavorable to President Nicolas Sarkozy.
In particular, the most rugged terrain seems to be Tunisian. While many in Tunis have not yet digested the coolness with which Paris had welcomed the uprising, now seem all the criticism centered around the Ambassador Boris Boillon, after two months ago he refused to respond in a piccata reporters who demanded explanations the French position before the crackdown.
The response has been slow to Tunisia: February 20 more than 3 thousand people protested in front of the embassy asking for his replacement, supported by 19 thousand contacts on Facebook, with the slogan "Boris go." A significant problem, so that for weeks there has been talk of a leadership changes to be assigned to the embassy diplomat Yves Marek, whose father was arrested by Ben Ali in the 80s.
Hypothesis accepted with enthusiasm by the public of Tunisia and over 20 thousand post "welcome" on Facebook. But the change of course never arrived: According to the French press, the causes are to be found in the veto of the Elysee diplomatic adviser Jean-David Levitte fairly close to the regime of Ben Ali, or perhaps depend on the difficulty of that Juppe to distance itself from pressures of diplomacy until yesterday wary of the Arab riots.
The land is mined, and the trip tomorrow's French foreign minister to Tunis, the first since the change of government and that comes after two postponements, seems to be a decisive test for the future relations between Tunis and Paris. Tiziana Guerrisi Lettera22
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