ASEM

President Chirac denies denigrating remarks towards Minister Tuomioja

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French President Jacques Chirac commented for the first time on Monday on the allegations made by the French weekly L'Express last week.
      According to Thursday's L'Express, Chirac had questioned the abilities of Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, saying that he is incompetent and "a zero", especially with respect to his handling of the crisis in Lebanon.
     
"The office of the French President immediately and categorically denied the alleged comments, giving this information without delay also to the Finnish government, including both the Foreign Minister and Prime Minister", said Chirac at a press conference shortly after the closing ceremony of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) on Monday.
      "Hence there is no reason to say any more about this", Chirac added.
      However, Chirac did go on to report his view of the cooperation with Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen relating to the handling of the Lebanon crisis.
      Chirac said that he has spoken several times with Finland's Prime Minister on the phone regarding the handling of the Lebanon crisis. "The relations between France and Finland are particularly good", he concluded.
     
The main purpose of the press conference was to give an account to the French media of Chirac's views regarding the ASEM summit.
      As the representatives of the Finnish media were allowed only one question, there was no chance to hear Chirac's comments on the quality of the food served during the summit. However, the delegations of both France and Italy (now under new management) took along several books on Finnish cuisine from the site of the meeting.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Collected articles on ASEM in Helsinki, September 2006
  Elysée Palace denies Chirac insulted Tuomioja (8.9.2006)

Helsingin Sanomat