France on joining NATO or not: When our friends do not need us, it's fine to join an alliance; when they do need us, we need to stay away

While Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner follows Nicolas Sarkozy in defending the government's decision to reintegrate NATO after 43 years, Lionel Jospin insists that France must "remain original" on the international scene and Dominique de Villepin states that France must not restrict her ambitions.

When pressed by Françoise Fressoz and Patrick Roger, who point out that Jacques Chirac considered reintegrating NATO while Villepin was sécrétaire général de l'Élysée, Villepin answers that

Oui, mais c'était en 1995, dans un contexte très particulier, juste après la chute du mur de Berlin, l'effondrement de l'URSS et la fin de la guerre froide. Les attentats du 11 septembre et la guerre en Irak ont changé la donne.

For Villepin and his ilk, in other words, when our allies (our friends) do not need us, it's fine to join an association (an alliance); when they do need us, it's time to stay away…

Prime Minister François Fillon adds his two centimes' worth; He chose to engage his government's responsibility on Tuesday, in order to avoid having the Assemblée Nationale vote on the NATO subject…

In an answer to one of the questions in a chat with readers, meanwhile, Hubert Védrine seems to show that Villepin's (self-serving) viewpoint is the majority view in France…

La position de la France vis-à-vis de l'OTAN n'était-elle pas comparable à celle de l'Angleterre vis-à-vis de l'Europe ? En avoir les avantages sans les inconvénients .

En effet, on peut comparer. Pourquoi donc changer cette position avantageuse ?