Weasel Watch

Emperor Chirac's naked ambition is revealed:

Chirac Again Warns East Europeans to Toe EU Line

ATHENS (Reuters) - French President Jacques Chirac, who outraged east Europeans in February by slamming their support for the U.S.-led war on Iraq, warned the new EU members on Wednesday to do more to find common European stands.

Speaking as 15 EU member states and 10 mostly ex-communist new members signed a treaty sealing the expansion of the bloc, Chirac said the new Europe must clarify its political ambitions to avoid the splits that emerged over the war.

In his stunning tirade in February, Europe's leading opponent of the war denounced east European countries as "not very well behaved and reckless" for siding with Washington and declared they had "missed a great opportunity to shut up."

His more diplomatic approach at the signing ceremony at Athens' ancient Agora or marketplace, the birthplace of democracy, clearly aimed at the east Europeans with its call for the expanding Europe to maintain unity in its growing diversity.

"This new Europe will not be able to fulfil our citizens' expectations if, as we are seeing in the current crisis, its political ambitions are not clarified and its running is not extensively rethought," he said.

"The European Union is about more than just a large market, common policies, a single currency and free movement," he said pointedly. "It is more importantly about a collective ambition, shared disciplines, firm solidarity and naturally looking to the European family."

Posted by feste at April 18, 2003 08:55 AM