FRANCE: Foreign Minister Alain Juppe during a meeting with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini says 'Libya and Syria are very different and cannot be tackled the same way'

Record ID: 588917

  • Title: FRANCE: Foreign Minister Alain Juppe during a meeting with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini says 'Libya and Syria are very different and cannot be tackled the same way'
  • Date: 2nd October 2011
  • Summary: BORDEAUX, FRANCE (OCTOBER 1, 2011) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER ALAIN JUPPE AND ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANCO FRATTINI ARRIVE AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANCO FRATTINI, SAYING: "We proposed to our counterparts who accepted, to take as foreign affairs ministers of the European popular party a united position and we have asked the European institutions, to the commission first, to Mrs (Catherine) Ashton and President (Manuel) Barroso to mobilise very quickly the financial instruments which already exist to the advantage of the mediterranean region." (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER ALAIN JUPPE, SAYING: "We said this morning that with Syria we have to work on two fronts, first to try to obtain this condemnation of the security forces and work with the opposition. We have to know them better, they have to get organised better, we have to see with them what they wish and that's what we are trying to do." (SOUNDBITE) (French) ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANCO FRATTINI, SAYING: "They met in Istanbul as you know, but we have to involve them more concretely. They start to get organised but more has to be done, even from us, to involve them." (SOUNDBITE) (French) FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTER ALAIN JUPPE, SAYING: "Libya and Syria are not the same thing. In Libya, the resolution in 1973 was presented by France, Great Britain and Lebanon. The Arab countries were asking us to intervene. This is not the case in Syria. On top of that, it's not possible to intervene if we don't have an international mandate. We can't think of intervening militarily. There the conditions are not ripe for that. Syrian society is not Libyan society, the risk of a civil war is very important and all this leads us to say we are not thinking of a military intervention in Syria. Actually it's a matter on which we are trying to convince the Russians. The current resolution bill is not the Libyan 1973, which would be transposed to Syria. It's different." (SOUNDBITE) (French) ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER FRANCO FRATTINI, SAYING: "It would be a catastrophe (Greece defaulting). We are all working to avoid all this, to help Greece. If Greece falls, there is a big risk that the whole of Europe could fall. The world is interconnected now and Europe even more so. That's the reason why I really appreciated the decision taken by the German Parliament two days ago. This decision has led the whole of Europe to the idea of helping more than allowing the bankruptcy of Greece." MINISTERS LEAVING VARIOUS JUPPE TALKING TO JOURNALISTS
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France, France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAI26KQ6NTYOTCD91TSGVXCJ3J
  • Story Text: French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe on Saturday (October 1) rejected the idea that the international community should intervene in Syria.
    Speaking during a meeting with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini, Juppe said the conditions in Syria were not ripe for a military intervention, which could spark a civil war.
    "We can't think of intervening militarily. There the conditions are not ripe for that. Syrian society is not Libyan society, the risk of a civil war is very important," said Juppe.
    Juppe also said: "With Syria we have to work on two fronts, first to try to obtain this condemnation of the security forces and work with the opposition. We have to know them better, they have to get organised better, we have to see with them what they wish and that's what we are trying to do."
    The two met in Bordeaux a day after participating in a meeting of foreign ministers of the European People's Party.
    Also high on the agenda of the pair's meeting was the crisis in Greece.
    Frattini stressed it is important to offer a helping hand to the debt-ridden nation to avoid a global catastrophe.
    "The world is interconnected now and Europe even more so. That's the reason why I really appreciated the decision taken by the German Parliament two days ago. This decision has led the whole of Europe to the idea of helping more than allowing the bankruptcy of Greece," said Frattini.
    French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday (September 30) he would meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the coming days in Germany to discuss Greece's debt troubles, calling support for Greece a "moral obligation" for Europe.
    Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who had met Merkel earlier in the week, pledged full transparency in Greece's debt-cutting efforts.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register