GCC Summit in Riyadh - UPDATE

French President Hollande Becomes First Foreign Leader to Attend GCC Summit

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states met today in Riyadh to discuss regional developments, most significantly the ongoing crisis in Yemen.

French President Francois Hollande became the first foreign leader to attend a GCC Summit since its inception in 1981. It was also the first summit for King Salman who took the throne on 23 January. New Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman also were in attendance.

Hollande has openly sided with the GCC states on major issues in the region, including the military intervention in Yemen and a possible military intervention in Syria. Hollane is also cautious about a final nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers and wants to balance any future agreement with strong guarantees to the GCC states.

UPDATE: Saudi King Salman called on fellow GCC leaders to stand up to Iran, saying there was a need to confront an external threat that "aims to expand control and impose its hegemony," threatening regional stability and creating "sectarian sedition."

Photo credit: French President Francois Hollande attends the GCC Summit in Riyadh; 5 May 2015 (AP)

Iraq Urges World Community to Take the Fight against ISIL

At Paris Conference Attended by 26 Nations

President Fuad Masum of Iraq urged world community to take the fight against the Islamic State who has occupied much of his country to neighboring Syria. He made the comments in a speech to the leaders of the coalition against ISIL gathered in Paris today.

“We must not allow them to have sanctuaries,” Masum said at the opening of an international conference on ISIL. “We must pursue them wherever they are.” (The New York Times, 15 September)

French President Hollande, the host of Paris conference, said ISIL represented a global danger.

“The Iraqis’ fight against terrorists is also ours,” Hollande said. “There is no time to lose.”

Paris conference is a gathering of 26 nations plus representatives from the UN, Arab League, and the EU.

Iran did not attend the conference. The French initially opened the door for possible Iranian participation, but the American officials opposed the idea, emphasizing that Iran’s Quds Force and other military and intelligence units have been deeply involved in the Syrian civil war, supporting Assad and fighting against the Syrian opposition, which has also been one of the main targets of ISIL in Syria.

Iran has criticized the Paris conference, proposing that Assad’s government should have also attended the gathering.

Photo credit: Global coalition against ISIL. In the middle, front row: co-chairmen of Paris conference; Presidents Masum of Iraq and Hollande of France. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iraqi FM Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and other foreign ministers of the coalition are seen in the photo. (AFP) 

French President Calls for Tougher Sanctions on Iran

“Sanctions on Iran must to be stepped up,” French President François Hollande told reporters during a joint press conference with Israeli President Shimon Peres in Paris on Friday.

“I have said how much we want the sanctions to be beefed up, which are already efficient,” Hollande said. “But if the Iranian regime continues its efforts to develop nuclear weapons, the international community will have to take it upon itself to prevent it. A nuclear Iran is a threat not only to Israel, but to all of Europe and the entire world.” (Israel Hayom, 10 March)

Peres praised France's determined stance against Iranian nuclear weapons, saying, “The sanctions are more effective than we thought, but not enough.”

Photo credit: French President François Hollande and Israeli President Shimon Peres in Paris on Friday (Reuters)

France and U.S. Share Views on Iran - Hollande

The newly elected French President Francois Hollande said today in Washington after talks with President Barack Obama that France and the US share views on Iranian nuclear program and that there was an agreement for ‘required firmness’ that Iran doesn’t get the nuclear military capacity [McClatchy, 18 May].

ITAR-TASS News Agency reported that the French President said he and Obama see ‘eye to eye’ on Iran.

"We see eye to eye on the Iranian issue. We might be able to start negotiations with Iran. However, for that there must be the certainty Teheran has no capability to make nuclear weapons," President Hollande said [ITAR-TASS, 18 May].

Later in the day, President Hollande met with British Prime Minister David Cameron at British Embassy in Washington and the two leaders stressed their agreement on a range of issues including Iran [ITV News, 18 May].

Hollande and Cameron were in Washington ahead of the G-8 Summit at Camp David this weekend.

Photo: Presidents Obama and Hollande at the White House. 18 May 2012. Abaca Press/MCT

President Francois Hollande

The New Leader of France. 15 May 2012

Former French PM in Tehran- Update

Former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard arrived in Tehran on a 3-day visit for meetings with senior Iranian officials. Today, he met with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi at his office in downtown Tehran. Rocard, a member of the French Socialist Party, is facilitating fresh contacts between Iran and the new French Socialist government of president-elect Francois Hollande, said Michel Dubois, a senior aide who accompanies Rocard during his trip. 

Hollande will be sworn in as the new president on 15 May. Salehi told Rocard that he hopes the election of Francois Hollande will lead to the expansion of Tehran-Paris relations [IRNA, 12 May]. 

Photo: Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi Greeting Former French PM Michel Rocard. Tehran. 12 May 2012. IRNA Photo

France: Hollande Wins First Round of Presidential Election - UPDATE

UPDATE: The results of the first round of the French presidential elections:

Francois Hollande: 28.8%
Nicolas Sarkozy: 26.1%

Marine Le Pen: 18.5%

Jean-Luc Melenchon: 11.7%

Francois Bayrou: 8.8%

Eva Joly: 2.3%
Others: 3.8%

Francois Hollande
Photo: Caroline Blumberg/EPA

*****

Francois Hollande of the Socialist Party will finish first in the first round of the French presidential election. The exit polls show he would receive 28% of the votes to President Sarkozy’s 25%. The exit polls also show that the candidate of the extreme right Marine le Pen will receive 20% of the votes and the candidate supported by the French Communist party and the far left Jean-Luc Melenchon will receive 12%.

The results, if stand, will be a major victory for Marine le Pen, bringing in a record percentage of the vote for the Front National (one in five French citizens voting for the extreme right), and a major upset for the far left candidate Mélenchon who was expected to finish third in previous polls. The results also throw out previous predictions of a sure victory for Hollande over Sarkozy in the second round on 6 May.

UPDATE: With 33 percent of the vote counted, Hollande has 27.5% percent of the votes and Sarkozy 26.6%. Le Pen is in third with 19.9%. Mélenchon who is finishing a disappointing fourth with 10% of the votes, has asked his supporters to come out in force during the second round to defeat Sarkozy. The centrist Democratic Movement candidate Francois Bayou has 9% and Green's Joly 2% of the votes. 71% of all eligible voters cast their votes in a strong turnout during the first round.

UPDATE: An Ipsos Mori poll conducted for France 24 shows that the Socialist candidate Hollande will win the second round convincingly, supported by 54% of likely voters, as opposed to 46% for Sarkozy. Hollande would become the first Socialist president since Mitterrand who won two elections in 1980s.