Election of Barack Obama to the Presidency of the United States of America (November 4, 2008)
Communiqué from the minister of Foreign and European Affairs, Mr Bernard Kouchner (November 5, 2008)
I would like to send my warmest and most cordial congratulations to Senator Barack Obama on his election to the Presidency of the United States of America and wish him the greatest possible success in his future endeavors as leader of his country.
American democracy has just lived through a marvelous moment, one of those major turning points that periodically demonstrate its vitality, its belief in the future and its trust in the values on which it was founded over two centuries ago.
In accordance with the commitments taken by Bernard Kouchner, France’s humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo is being assembled. It will total 8.2 million euros.
Some 3.3 million euros has been allocated for food aid, including 1.8 million for the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and 1.5 million for French NGOs active in Kivu (Première Urgence, Secours Catholique).
Death of civilians during an aerial bombardment in southern Afghanistan (November 3, 2008)
Statement by the presidency of the Council of the European Union
The Presidency of the Council of the European Union has learned with grief and dismay of the death of numerous civilians, gathered to attend a wedding, during a bombing carried out yesterday in Shah Wali Kot, in Kandahar province.
It hopes that the investigation that has been announced will come to a swift conclusion and fully clarify the circumstances of this tragedy.
Union for the Mediterranean: a new impetus to the relations between Europe and the Mediterranean (Marseille, November 3 & 4, 2008)
The ministerial conference of the “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean,” held in Marseille on November 3 and 4 and chaired by the French and Egyptian foreign ministers, Bernard Kouchner and Ahmed Aboul Gheit, produced a comprehensive agreement realizing the ambition for a stronger partnership around the Mediterranean as expressed at the July 13 summit of heads of state and government in Paris.
The UE proposes implementing a closer partnership with the United States (Marseilles,November 3, 2008)
Before the opening of the ministerial conference of the “Barcelona Process: Union for the Mediterranean,”, the foreign ministers of the EU member states, CFSP High Representative Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner met in Marseille on November 3 at the invitation of Bernard Kouchner to continue their discussions, on the eve of the presidential election in the US, about implementing a closer partnership with the U.S.
