Neighborhood

For French President Jacques Chirac, Europe has been “too absent” from the Lebanese crisis, he told the annual gathering of French ambassadors in Paris on 28 August. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana should have been give a mandate to “speak and act” on behalf of the 25 member states in the same way as he handles the Iran nuclear dossier, he said. This would enable Europe to “mobilise its strength in the service of peace”, Chirac claimed.