Sarkozy threatens boycott of NATO summit over seating plan dispute
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Berlin, Feb 14, IRNA -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy has triggered a major row over the seating arrangement at the upcoming NATO Summit, scheduled to be co-hosted by Germany and France in early April, Der Spiegel news magzine said in a report Sunday.
The media-savvy French leader threatened to boycott the festivities of the 60th anniversary of the western military pact in the German cities of Baden-Baden and Kehl as well as the French city of Strasbourg, if he was not allowed to sit next to NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, according to Der Spiegel.
The seating plans at NATO summits is normally based on the alphabetic order of the names of heads of states and governments.
Sarkozy's threats to stay away from the NATO summit has apparently resulted in a compromise which would permit the French president to sit besides the NATO chief as long as the television cameras are in the conference room, however later on Sarkozy would have to switch his seat with other leaders.
The French president's insistence on a specific seating plan may be linked to France's aspirations to return to the military command structure of the western military alliance at the next NATO summit.
France had partially withdrawn from NATO in 1966 under then-president Charles de Gaulle and had assumed a special role in the military pact.
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End News / IRNA / News Code 354759
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