French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin passed on his "warmest congratulations" to George W. Bush Thursday after he emerged finally as victor in the US presidential elections.
"To you and your team I send the best wishes for the exercise of the responsibilities you are about to assume at the White House," Jospin said in a message made public by his office.
"I hope that in close cooperation with our main partners we can continue to assume our responsibility to take up the challenges that face our societies, in full respect for the individuals who make them up and the values that we share."
On a visit to the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine wished Bush luck and expressed the urgency of the search for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
"It would be a mistake to think that between now and the time a new administration takes over nothing can happen," Vedrine said in Cairo.
"The situation is so tragic that we have the duty to expend every effort to do all that it is possible to do, even if we know well the innumerable difficulties," he said.
In France, newspapers expressed relief that the month-long legal saga that followed the election was over, but some fears that Bush would enter the presidency weakened by the questions raised over his victory.
According to the left-wing Liberation newspaper, "It is a testimony to the strength of American democracy that it has stood up to the post-election chaos.
"But (George W Bush) will have to display a real genius for conciliation if he is to restore political peace. The 'Florida war' has been the sternest test for American democracy since Watergate."
The right-wing Le Figaro said the most striking aspect of the last month was how well American democratic institutions had resisted the stress, despite a torrent of mockery from abroad.
"Now that America has finally elected its president, it would be too much to expect an end to the unhealthy glee that has gripped a large part of the world for the last month," Le Figaro said.
"The snickering and the expressions of insincere pity were an illusory and childish way of cocking a snob at American power. But unconsciously they were also an act of homage to American democracy." -- PARIS (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
