Since 1857, the Ministry of Foreign (and now European)
Affairs has occupied the Hôtel de Montesquiou,
on the Quai d’Orsay beside the River Seine
(often called simply “le Quai”)
France has always been a first-rank player on the international scene.
In Europe, France committed itself at an early stage to the task of unifying the continent. Globally, the country remains attached to its independence, the key principle of its diplomacy since General de Gaulle, who gave France an autonomous nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. When France acts in various parts of the world to defend human rights, it can call on the principles of 1789 that inspired the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations at the Trocadéro Palace in Paris in 1948.
At the start of the 21st century, globalisation makes it necessary to strengthen multilateral cooperation in new areas: France is often a pioneer in the European Union, the UN Security Council or among its partners in the G8 group of major industrialised countries, in such matters as global warming, terrorism, arms proliferation and threats to energy supplies.
Bernard Kouchner, Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, with his British and Spanish
counterparts, David Miliband and Miguel Ángel Moratinos
(Quai d’Orsay, 31 March 2008) © MAEE
Source : France 2008, La Documentation française
Print version
France - U.N