May 31, 2005

Forget about diplomacy with Iran

By Olivier Guitta
Iran has become the hottest ticket in town. Not a day goes by without a headline, book, conference or declaration by a world leader on Iran. For the moment, nothing has been getting more attention than the negotiations between Iran and the EU—3 (France, Germany and the UK), to solve the nuclear issue.    A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to ask Mrs Ana Palacio, ex Spanish Foreign Minister in the Aznar government, about Iran and the EU—3. Interestingly, she was very forceful in expressing her rejection of the EU—3 as a representative of the European Union. The EU—3 is 'a strange animal' and 'it is a hijacking of the label Europe' she said. And indeed in this regard, Mrs Palacio could not be more right. It is a total sham to have three countries arbitrarily picked to speak for the other 22 members of the Union. Especially when two of them —France and Germany— happen to be the two largest trade partners of Iran. In light of this,...(Read Full Article)