00:00So good morning, Monsieur de Villepin. Thank you so much for joining us from Paris live this morning.
00:05Great to have you with us. First, I want to talk to you about the EU-Mercosur trade deal.
00:09It got over the line on Friday, despite the opposition from France.
00:13Do you think France will still block it when the European Parliament vote takes place?
00:19Well, I think there is a very strong consensus here in France of all the political parties to
00:26refuse such an agreement based on the idea that there is not enough reciprocity in this
00:34agreement. So it's not a position against any kind of trade agreement. It's because for some
00:43groups in our country and mainly the farmers, we believe that the agreement has not reached the
00:51right point. And still, we should have been negotiating in order to better the agreement.
01:00But French opposition actually forced Brussels to pull out all the stops to convince Italy.
01:04So the agri sector has already gotten several concessions like advanced payments from the
01:09cap in the next budget and also reducing tariffs on imports of fertilisers. Is this not enough
01:13for France?
01:16Well, reciprocity means more because we see on the environmental side, we see on the health
01:27measures that we are still not yet able to protect our population and protect our farmers. So the consensus
01:36that we see politically is threatening the survival of the government. So it's a major issue, very symbolic
01:45of the kind of fight we want to deliver and also an expression of what we do expect from Europe. And even if
01:58the agreement has been negotiated for 26 years, we can see very clearly that all the elements have not been
02:07integrated and we did not find the right balance in a moment. And we must admit that where the worries of many
02:17groups like farmers is at a peak. So again, this is something that is created a lot of disturbances, a lot of
02:26worries. And we can see that. We've seen that on the streets of France, even though the commission
02:31would argue that the benefits for EU companies outweigh the risks for the French farmers. But I also
02:36want to talk about Iran. You've said that the EU must take their own initiative here rather than follow
02:41the US agenda. So what should Brussels be saying when it comes to Iran's future? What leverage do they have
02:46here? Well, what we see is a very severe crackdown on protesters. There is a changing position of the
02:58leadership in Iran. And we must find the right balance to not make things worse. And I think we are at a point
03:08where all around Iran, in every city, big cities, small cities, the protest is growing. This is a movement
03:18of the Iranian population against the Mola's regime. And any foreign intervention will create a new situation
03:31and give the possibility to the regime to even increase the repressive movement and policy.
03:40So that's your message then to Donald Trump? We know that behind the Mola's...
03:43Is that your message then to President Trump? Do not intervene?
03:46Do not intervene. Put as much pressure as you can. Try through dialogue and by any means to
03:57create a new situation that might create the awareness for the Iranian leadership in order to measure the
04:07consequences of their act. But what is at stake now is not only the Mola's. We know how important are the
04:15groups, the army, the Basigi, and also all the revolutionary gods. So we are not sure that even
04:26through an intervention, we might not create a situation of chaos that will be even worse than
04:32the situation today. So we must be very careful. The United States is already engaged in many different
04:39situation, many different theaters in Venezuela. Nothing has been achieved yet. And the people of
04:47Venezuela are still waiting for results. So being engaged in such a region like the Middle East,
04:55without knowing at all what would be the consequences, I think this would not be responsible.
05:01So seething the UN, having the Security Council involved, of course, this is a matter of worry for
05:08everybody, even Russia and China. They have a lot of interest in Iran. They have no interest in creating
05:14a chaos situation. So I think through dialogue, through awareness of everyone, through strong pressure,
05:23and there are many, many unofficial ways to pressure the Islamic government, I think that we might be in a
05:34position to halt and stop the current situation in Iran.
05:41Okay. Dominique de Vipan, thank you so much for joining us live from Paris this morning.
05:46Thank you. Great to have you with us.
Comments