VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHFR #7928/01 3631414
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291414Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3975
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS PARIS 007928 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR THE OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY 
ALSO FOR NSC (JULIE FISHER, MATT PALMER) 
DEPT FOR EUR AND EUR/WE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OVIP BUSH LAURA PREL PGOV FR EUN UNO NATO
UNESCO 
SUBJECT: THE FIRST LADY'S JAN 14-17 VISIT TO PARIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; please handle accordingly. 
 
Introduction 
------------ 
 
¶1.  (U) The First Lady's visit to France comes at an ideal 
moment, just as the French are contemplating a generational 
change in their politics and reassessing their role in the 
world.  The First Lady will be able to highlight our historic 
friendship, our effective modern-day collaboration, and our 
respect for France's cultural contributions.  The First Lady 
will be warmly welcomed, in Paris and at UNESCO, and her 
visit's themes -- of education and advocacy for children -- 
will resonate strongly here. 
 
A New Era of Collaboration 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) When the First Lady last visited in 2004, France 
and President Chirac were still feeling emboldened by their 
opposition to our intervention in Iraq and Chirac's alliance 
of convenience with Germany and Russia.  Since then, thanks 
to the efforts of the President and Secretary, and a bit of 
realism in France, the two countries have put aside their 
differences over Iraq in order to work more vigorously 
together on other international issues of particular concern: 
 Lebanon; Iranian nuclear weapons; the humanitarian disaster 
in Darfur; and others.  Differences remain, over our 
respective visions for NATO, Turkey's place in Europe, and 
how best to manage an increasingly authoritarian Russia, but 
the relationship overall is close and productive. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The French remain keenly interested in whether and 
to what degree the President will modify our Iraq policy, but 
this interest will be overshadowed by the turbulent domestic 
political scene here in France, during the First Lady's 
visit.  The campaign for the spring 2007 presidential 
elections enters into full swing with the new year.  On 
January 15, the morning after the First Lady's arrival, 
Interior Minister Sarkozy will presumably be formally 
designated by the center-right Union for a Popular Movement 
(UMP) as its presidential candidate.  The other main 
presidential contender, Socialist Party candidate Segolene 
Royal, will be planning her first trip to the United States 
shortly after the First Lady's visit. 
 
France's Upcoming Political Choice 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Many in France will assume -- given Sarkozy's 
recent trip to the U.S., where he met with the President and 
called for a warmer relationship with the U.S. -- that the 
Administration is hoping for a Sarkozy victory.  But France 
will also be interested in the First Lady's reactions to 
France's first electable female presidential candidate.  The 
2007 elections will mark a change of generations and, for the 
first time in many years, the two main political parties will 
be running candidates who insist they are outsiders and 
willing to shake up France's comfortable but underperforming 
status quo.  The end of Chirac's tenure has been marked by 
considerable French uncertainty about the "French model" for 
integration and economic development (witness the November 
2005 unrest in the suburbs and the student protests against 
labor reforms), its future within the European Union (France 
voted against the EU constitutional treaty), and the world 
(fears of the effects of globalization).  The electorate's 
hopes are high that this election will mark a new beginning 
for France. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) President Chirac's agenda during his last months of 
office has been to maintain his own visibility in the one 
area where he can still have a public impact and maintains 
unmitigated decision-making control:  French foreign policy. 
In recent months he has multiplied his announcements on new 
foreign policy initiatives (the latest being a proposal for 
creation of a Contact Group on Afghanistan) and given full 
rein to his politically popular "soft" initiatives in the 
areas of climate change, a tax on worldwide travel for 
HIV/AIDS, a proposal for a UN Environmental Organization, and 
what he terms the "dialogue of civilizations."  He may 
personally chair the January 25 conference in Paris on 
Lebanon that Secretary Rice will be attending. 
 
Our Shared Interests and Values 
------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The First Lady's meetings at UNESCO and her 
participation in the conference sponsored by Mrs. Chirac on 
missing and exploited children will form the centerpiece of 
the visit.  At UNESCO, the First Lady will have an 
opportunity to highlight her role as Ambassador for the UN 
Literacy Decade and build on the September White Conference 
on Literacy in New York.  She will be able to present U.S. 
views on teacher training in Africa, and convey a message on 
the practical initiatives the U.S. sees as useful for the 
organization.  Mrs. Chirac's conference offers a forum for 
conveying international solidarity on an issue that 
transcends the geographical, religious and racial boundaries 
that divide the world.  President Chirac is scheduled to make 
opening remarks at this conference. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The First Lady's visit will allow us to convey a 
number of themes to advance U.S. interests: 
 
-- The U.S. and France are partners in addressing global 
challenges, be they Lebanese sovereignty and Iranian 
proliferation, or missing and exploited children.  The value 
of our age-old friendship lies in what we do together in the 
world today. 
 
-- The U.S. will work productively with whomever emerges from 
France's 2007 elections to lead this key ally, and we rejoice 
in France's vibrant democracy, the roots of which intertwine 
with our own. 
 
-- President Chirac's legacy in the international arena is 
significant and we salute his leadership role over his many 
years in office. 
 
-- Our commitment to UNESCO is rooted in the important work 
that organization has at this critical time, in particular 
with regard to its educational mandate. 
 
Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm 
HOFMANN