The Member of Parliament representing the Alpes-Maritimes département (South East of France), Rudy Salles, presented a contribution under the title “En avant!” (Moving forward), drawing a parallel between UDF and Kadima, the party founded by Ariel Sharon. Salles, who is chairing the France-Israel friendship group at the National Assembly, will be accompanying François Bayrou, who should be going to Israel in February, at the head of a delegation of French and Italian MP’s.
François Bayrou said: “If you consider the Near and Middle East, if you put side by side the new situation arising in Palestine with the victory of Hamas and the new orientations in Iran, you realize that something is under way, about which it is impossible not to see the threat it entails.”
The UDF President went on to add: “The Palestinian authority is living thanks to a “financial drip” from the European Union. This does not allow us to speak on its behalf, because this is in no way a subjection, but it does gives us the right to think, to watch, to define the criteria that for us in Europe characterize a positive development in the situation, and to refuse the renunciation implicit in refusing to act. Stability and peace in the world depend to a significant extent on the existence of Europe, and the existence of Europe depends on the vigor of France.”
Questioned by the French media, François Bayrou commented on the results of the Palestinian elections, considering them to be “an earthquake, because the winners are those who have written into their charter that they wish to see the elimination of Israel.” UDF’s President had these words of warning: “It is essential that in the face of the government about to be set up, the international community states with absolute clarity: our cooperation and our help are conditioned by the de facto recognition of the State of Israel.”
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