French Foreign Policy (Hansard, 20 January 1995)

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has expressed concern to the French Government about the adverse consequences of their foreign policy initiatives with Iraq.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
We have raised the recent French decision to open an interests section in Baghdad both bilaterally and in discussion with European Union partners. We expressed our concern at the move, and underlined that we had no plans to follow suit, given Iraq's continuing failure to implement outstanding Security Council resolutions.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has expressed concern to the French Government about the adverse consequences of their foreign policy initiatives with Algeria.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
No. The French were party to the EU statement in September 1994 calling on all sides to cease all acts of violence and to allow peaceful dialogue.

§ Mr. Worthington
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he has expressed concern to the French Government about the adverse consequences of their foreign policy initiatives with Sudan.
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§ Mr. Hogg
EU concerns about such issues as the human rights situation and civil war in Sudan are supported by all partners. Recent EU joint action has included a statement on 31 October which condemned the use of violence by the Sudanese authorities to evict residents from a Khartoum squatter camp.