Clinton ‘Hijacked’ Summit, Europeans Say

The French planned the gathering, rented the chairs, bought the food and helped set the agenda. Then President Clinton arrived with his own political agenda to hijack the proceedings, acting more like a candidate than a statesman.

That, at least, is how French and other European diplomats on Friday viewed the statement on terrorism that the Group of 7 leaders adopted at Clinton’s insistence. Some complained privately that the American president, absorbed by his reelection campaign, had used the summit to make points at home, diverting attention from the more important economic issues traditionally handled at the annual meeting of the seven industrial powers.

“The United States doesn’t hesitate to use every fear, every inequality and every act of aggression--of which terrorism is the worst--to amplify its domination,” complained Le Figaro, the right-leaning Paris daily, in a front-page editorial Friday. “Since the fall of communism, the world is under the Americans’ influence--politically, monetarily and culturally.”

The left-leaning Paris daily Liberation was no kinder. “The American president, with his catalog of 40 ‘recommendations’ [against terrorism], intended to turn the G-7 to his domestic advantage,” it said. “He is using his trip to Lyons to score points with political opinion at home. And he appears to have concluded that all that is good for America is good for business. That is not an economic theory embraced on this side of the Atlantic.”

The United States, Liberation added, “should remember that it isn’t the only country affected by world terrorism.”

Clinton arrived Wednesday with a head of steam over the killing of 19 U.S. military personnel in a bomb blast in Saudi Arabia. Clinton’s entourage “just hijacked the conference,” a disgusted French diplomat said.

The European view of the Americans’ self-absorption was on display in an editorial cartoon on the front page of Le Monde: Clinton, in cowboy attire and toting a rifle, tells a homeless man holding an outstretched cup: “We already gave you CNN and the Internet.”

As the G-7 host, French President Jacques Chirac graciously agreed to make terrorism “point No. 1” on the summit agenda during an opening dinner Thursday night. But his aides said he did that to prevent the issue from derailing the other business at hand during the summit. And while the French condemned the terrorist bombing, they were perplexed that Clinton used the incident to change the summit agenda.

French officials also were concerned that Clinton was using the bombing in Saudi Arabia as evidence of the need for trade blockades on countries the United States says harbor terrorists. A new U.S. law would prevent foreign company executives from entering the United States if their firms use expropriated American property in Cuba, and Congress is nearing final approval of similar legislation to extend sanctions to Iran and Libya.

European countries strongly object to such boycotts.

Whatever Clinton’s intent, the business of the summit returned primarily to economic issues Friday. Still, the more reserved Europeans were surprised when Clinton treated them to what amounted to a political stump speech during their Friday morning session, touting his administration’s success in job creation and deficit reduction.

“The United States has certainly created a lot of jobs, and it has made real progress,” Chirac said later Friday. “But there are different views on what is the nature of these new jobs. Many of them are low-paid jobs we wouldn’t accept in Europe.”

Chirac and Clinton are known to get along well. In fact, the Clintons have planned a private dinner with the Chiracs in Paris tonight. Among things to be discussed are Clinton administration objections to the reelection of Boutros Boutros-Ghali as U.N. secretary-general. The French support Boutros-Ghali.

“We are friends with strong personalities, so from time to time we have words with each other,” said Herve de Charette, the French foreign minister. “But at the end of the day, we stand together because we are profound friends and allies.”