Filomena Scalise

The world needs a strong euro as well a strong Africa, said French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Alain Juppe on Thursday.

He told the Institute of International Affairs that the financial crisis may have originated in the US but SA was one of the countries that suffered the consequences. He said France would look to grow its partnership with SA and wanted to see Africa gaining a stronger voice on the international stage. He also said France was not trying to re-colonise Africa, but was interested in seeing democracy flourish across the continent via transparent elections.

The future of the euro inevitably dominated the conversation.

“We must stay the course as Europe and the world needs the euro. France and Germany are determined to work with their partners,” he said. Notably, he included outside partners like China, as important in the process.

“We are determined to stabilise the euro and fight against anything that de-stabilises the euro.”

He said the EU was working on consolidating the European Stability Fund and indicated that the firewall around Greece should prevent problems spreading. He said a strong European Union consolidated peace and unity and that France's ruling government would fight calls for the EU to be dismantled. He said his personal view was a common fiscal system would guarantee stability and peace in Europe. It would, however, entail stronger operation at the core.

Amid all this, he said France would retain its commitment to Africa as the second largest donor country.

But he wants to see more coordinated efforts to give young people more opportunities so that Africa can join Latin America and Asia in their growth stories.

While France had previously been vocal in calls for more control over commodity prices, Juppe said it had just been decided by the G20 not to try to control commodity prices, but to manage price pressures by understanding stock levels and to try to regulate options transactions via minimum cash transactions.

But he did question some of SA's recent foreign affairs calls.

“How could SA turn a blind eye on Syria?” asked Juppe. Its position on Libya had also been questioned. He said France wanted SA to play a crucial role in a new global governance framework - France is thus calling for more seats to be created at the United Nations.

He said global governance required strong regional groupings, like the African Union, which had been important in bringing about changes to democracy on the continent.

“But it would do well to improve the speed of its decision-making,” he said.

He wants to see quicker responses to humanitarian crises.

A strategic partnership between the African Union and EU could help in the task of generating peace and security.

A strategic partnership between SA and France was formed in March this year after President Zuma's visit there. This partnership was soon in action when both countries voted for Palestinian accession a few days ago.

Juppe said cultural and business partnerships and development agencies would be improved further by France in SA. - I-Net Bridge