Frankrijk ontvouwt plannen voor een eigen CNN (en)

Plans to create an international French television channel along the lines of CNN or the BBC appear to be back on track, following comments by French foreign minister Michel Barnier.

"The goal set in this area by the president of the republic should be maintained", Mr Barnier told a meeting of French ambassadors in Paris on Thursday.

"In the battle of images being played out today - as we see in Iraq - our country must be present", he said, according to AFP.

French President Jacques Chirac called for the new channel during the height of the Iraqi war, so that the French viewpoint, which was against the war, would have a better chance of being exposed.

"We owe this to the architects of the project. We also owe this to the president of the republic and to all those who, around the world, are waiting to better learn the positions of our country", said Mr Barnier.

French soul-searching

How France is perceived in the world, and particularly Europe, has led to much soul-searching lately among French politicians - especially with the decline of the use of the French language in EU institutions and the perceived decline in French influence in Brussels.

Addressing French ambassadors on this issue, Mr Barnier said that France "certainly has to conduct its own diplomatic action without ever shrinking back, but it increasingly has need of others. And the first reflex, I say bluntly, must be European".

"France is not great when it is arrogant. It is not strong if it is alone", said Mr Barnier, who until recently was a European Commissioner.

He said he recognised that the stepping back of French diplomacy behind an EU shield "is not inscribed in the long and prestigious history of our ministry ... (but) that is how our country can develop its influence".

Behaviour change

Yesterday, the French prime minister put out a similar message.

Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the "European dimension" should be better integrated into national politics.

"We have to work with Europe in a much more engaged manner" he said adding that a Europe of 25 means that France has to change its behaviour.

Both ministers' comments come after opposition socialist politicians have been saying that the relatively small portfolio (transport) that the French commissioner will be overseeing from 1 November was an indication of Paris' waning influence in the EU.