The Minister of National Education, Youth and Sports announced Thursday that France would not follow the diplomatic boycott launched by the United States, but his entourage quickly backpedaled.
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The United States, New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada … and France? While several countries have announced that none of their government representatives will attend the Beijing Olympics, the Minister of National Education, youth and sports, Jean-Michel Blanquer announced Thursday, December 9 at the microphone of BFMTV and RMC that France would not follow this diplomatic boycott. A few hours later, however, his entourage told France Inter that Paris’ position on the diplomatic side was not clear and was still under discussion. He also specifies that the words of Jean-Michel Blanquer were misunderstood that he was speaking as Minister of Sports and therefore only on the sporting aspect: there will be no “no sports boycott”.
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French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has indeed marked a different position from Jean Michel Blank almost at the same time. “We are in favor of there being a common position of which we will measure all the issues at the next meeting of foreign ministers or the next, but this question must be dealt with as Europeans”, declared Jean-Yves Le Drian during a joint press conference with his German counterpart.