France steps up criticism of U.S.

Jospin: None of us can hope solve problems alone

PARIS, France -- France has again warned Washington of the dangers of unilateralism in its approach to the war on terrorism.

French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, speaking at a European parliamentarians' conference on money laundering on Friday, spoke two days after his Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine criticised what he called U.S. President George W. Bush's simplistic approach to world politics.

"We hope the United States does not give in to the strong temptation of unilateralism," Jospin said.

France has strongly backed the campaign against terrorism since the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

"But this does not mean that we must not reflect lucidly on the lessons we have learned from September 11," Jospin said.

"We cannot reduce the problems of the world to the single dimension of the struggle against terrorism, despite its pressing importance, nor rely on the predominance of military means," he added.

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Jospin also said international cooperation was needed to tackle terrorism.

"Our conception of the world aims to create a more balanced international community ... based on a multilateral approach," he said.

"Cooperation means members of the international community can tackle together the roots of problems, since none of us can hope to resolve them alone."

The criticism from Paris is the latest indictation of unease among some of America's European allies over the direction of the post-Afghanistan anti-terror campaign.

Although France was among those European countries that backed the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism following the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, it has joined Germany and Britain in expressing concerns.

All three EU neighbours were critical of last week's State of the Union speech in which President George W. Bush named Iran, Iraq and North Korea as sponsors of terrorism in an "axis of evil."

Vedrine hit out at Bush's approach on Wednesday, saying the rhetoric coming out of Washington was confirmation that the Republican administration approached foreign policy "unilaterally, without consulting anyone." "We are threatened today by a new simplism which consists in reducing everything to the war on terrorism," said Vedrine.

"That is their approach, but we cannot accept that idea. You have got to tackle the root causes, the situations, poverty, injustice."

Keen to promote international cooperation, France is currently hosting a meeting of 78 states negotiating a code of conduct on limiting the proliferation of ballistic missiles.

"This is the antithesis of American views," the conservative daily Le Figaro wrote in a commentary.

"At a time when President George W. Bush is denouncing an 'axis of evil' composed of three countries -- Iran, Iraq and North Korea -- France has called an international conference (including Iran) to try to halt the proliferation of ballistic missiles," the newspaper said.