Washington Section News - Page B3a
CLINTON HIJACKS SUMMIT - FRANCE CHARGES!
by Staff Journalists, The Daily Republican OnLine Newspaper
PARIS DESK- President Clinton, in a decidedly unpopular move bullied the G-7 Conference into photo-ops for his own partisan political agenda in Lyons on Friday.
French and other European diplomats complained privately that the Clinton was preoccupied by his reelection campaign in the United States and had used the G-7 Summit to divert attention from the more important economic issues traditionally handled at the annual meeting of the seven industrial powers.
The French newspaper Le Figaro played an editorial on the front-page Friday saying "The United States doesn't hesitate to use every fear, every inequality and every act of aggression - of which terrorism is the worst--to amplify its domination."
Meanwhile, the Paris daily Liberation news played a headline "The American president, with his catalog of 40 'recommendations' intended to turn the G-7 to his domestic advantage. He is using his trip to Lyons to score points with political opinion at home ... That is not an economic theory embraced on this side of the Atlantic."
It is being reported today in the Los Angeles Time that European view of Clinton's preemption of the G-7 Summit is another example of the Clinton administration's self-absorption. An editorial cartoon on the front page of Le Monde, depicted President Clinton, in cowboy attire and toting a rifle, tells a homeless man holding an outstretched cup: "We already gave you CNN and the Internet."
As the G-7 host, French President Jacques Chirac aides said that they were perplexed that Clinton used the incident to change the summit agenda. Other French officials also were concerned that Clinton was using the bombing in Saudi Arabia as evidence of the need for trade blockades on countries the United States says harbor terrorists. A new U.S. law would prevent foreign company executives from entering the United States if their firms use expropriated American property in Cuba, and Congress is nearing final approval of similar legislation to extend sanctions to Iran and Libya.
European audiences watched in stunned silence when Clinton began to make his political campaign speech during their Friday morning session, boasting of his administration's 'success' in job creation and deficit reduction.
Chirac said later Friday. "... there are different views on what is the nature of these new [Clinton] jobs. Many of them are low-paid jobs we wouldn't accept in Europe."
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