Daily press briefing by Ministry Spokesperson

Statements made by the Ministry of Foreign and European Spokesperson

(Paris, 29 September 2008)

[Please note that only the original French text issued by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs may be considered official. (http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr )]

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Proliferation Security Initiative

On 25-26 September in Paris, France hosted the Operational Experts Group (OEG) that brings together the 20 countries most strongly engaged in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).

Launched in 2003, the PSI aims to prevent trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, their vectors, and the constituent elements of such weapons. Comprising 91 countries so far, it is designed to establish and strengthen effective operational cooperation among volunteer States to fight against such flows by sea, air and land.

Since the beginning, France has been strongly engaged in this operational initiative, which, on the basis of international law and existing mechanisms, effectively supplements national and international efforts to fight proliferation. In September 2003, she hosted the Paris meeting that saw the adoption of the principles of interception establishing the Initiative’s objectives and countries’ commitments to meet them.

Five years after the launch of the PSI, 2008 particularly illustrates France’s commitments, with the organization in March of the major international exercise GUISTIR, held in the Gulf of Aden, and the OEG meeting just held in Paris.

The OEG in Paris made significant progress, notably by stepping up exchanges among partners on concrete cases. Special emphasis was placed on educating new countries and transport operators. France, who currently holds the EU presidency, also stressed the growing role played by the EU on flow-control problems.

Diplomatic Archives

The new Diplomatic Archive Centre of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, located in La Courneuve, will open its doors to researchers in the summer of 2009 to offer better consulting conditions. The new reading room will accommodate 156 people instead of the 55 at the current room at the Quai d’Orsay archives. Researchers at La Courneuve will also have a room where they can freely consult microfilms and sound documents, as well as an inventory room.

Because of the move, the reading room of the archives at the Quai d’Orsay has been closed since 1 July and the reading room of the archives in Colmar will close at the end of October.

To facilitate current research, 3,500 microfilms from the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs will be made available to the public as from 6 October at the Centre d’Accueil et de Recherche des Archives Nationales (CARAN), 11 rue des Quatre-Fils, 75003 Paris.

Those microfilms include:

 Civil status registries kept by French consulates abroad from the early 19th century to 1907;

 All manuscripts preserved in the Memoirs and Documents Collection (France), which notably includes correspondence from Cardinal de Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin; papers belonging to the Duc de Saint-Simon, Mirabeau, and Bourbons in exile; Napoleon’s instructions to his foreign ministers; correspondence from foreign secretaries under the Ancien Regime concerning the administration of the kingdom’s provinces; and the papers of many other figures who influenced France’s foreign policy;

 Quasi-daily exchanges of correspondence between the foreign minister and his envoys to Germany and Spain from the early 17th century to the second half of the 19th century;

 Foreign Ministry directories from 1858 to 1989, making it possible to reconstitute the evolution of the Ministry and its employees’ careers.

A list of microfilms will be published on the Foreign Ministry Web site.

The Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs draws attention to the fact that during this period, the consultation room of the Diplomatic Archives in Nantes, which holds the archives from Embassies and Consulates, will remain open at the usual times.

CARAN is open to the public Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4.45 p.m.

Annual closing: from the evening of Tuesday, 23 December 2008 until Saturday, 3 January 2009.

Statement by the Presidency of the European Union on the attack perpetrated in Tripoli, Lebanon

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union condemns with the utmost firmness the further attack which occurred this morning in Tripoli and is reported to have left at least four dead and tens of wounded, among whom many Lebanese soldiers.

The Presidency of the Council of the European Union expresses all its condolences to the victims’ families and their relatives, and to the Lebanese government and the Lebanese people.

The Presidency reaffirms on this occasion the European Union’s full support to the Lebanese authorities and in particular to President Sleiman and to the Prime Minister, as well as to the army, in their fight against all forms of terrorism.

The Presidency recalls the European Union’s commitment to the independence, the sovereignty, the unity and the stability of Lebanon.

Syria / Lebanon

Q. - Has France had contacts with Syria and Lebanon concerning the attacks in Damascus and Tripoli in the last few days? If so, what was the tenor of those conversations?

Let me remind you of the statements issued by French authorities, on behalf of France and as EU President, on these attacks.

Bernard Kouchner asked our Embassies in Damascus and Beirut to relay our condemnations and our solidarity.

International Atomic Energy Agency

Q. - The 52 nd General Conference of the IAEA’s 145 Member States opened today in Vienna.

The debates will focus on two subjects: the candidacies of Syria and Iran for the seat on the Board of Governors left vacant by Pakistan, whose term has expired; and the nuclear arsenal of Israel, the only Midle East country with atomic weapons, and which refuses to accept international inspections of its nuclear programme. What is France’s position on these two subjects?

To my knowledge, three countries are seeking to succeed Pakistan on the IAEA Board of Governors: Syria, Iran and Afghanistan.

Given the lack of consensus within their geographical group, the General Conference must hold a secret ballot. France will examine each candidacy on its own merits, including each candidate’s full respect for international obligations on non-proliferation.

As for Israel, as you know, that country is not a member of the NPT. France and the EU support the NPT’s universality. They call on Israel to join the NPT, as they do for all non-party States.

More broadly, France would like to see all the conditions in place to implement a Middle East zone free of weapons of mass destruction and their vectors./.