French Arrogance

Published on July 22, 2004 By CS Guy In Current Events

French arrogance surfaces again. The following notice was found on the front door of the French Consulate in New York City.

"Visas for France are not a right. Persons applying for visas are requested to show due respect for Consular personnel. Failure to do so will result in the denial of the application and denied entry into any of the EU countries."

So it seems that France is speaking for the entire European Union these days. I certainly think that people should show the proper respect for Consular personnel, but shouldn't the other nations in the EU have the right to decide whether rudeness to the French deserves a banning of entry into their country?

Andre Sirois is a lawyer at the United Nations specializing in international law. Mr. Sirois claims no knowledge of any law that gives one European Union nation the power that France is assuming with this notice. He further says, “This is very rude, undiplomatic and probably illegal. ... Actually, it could cause a good rift between France and those [European] countries who have probably not delegated their visa authority to the French government.”

Comments (Page 2)

_Martin_

on Jul 27, 2004

Anyone entering the USA and passing through immigration would be right to comment on arrogance. Has ANYONE not been treated with utter contempt by those jumped up army rejects?

I suspect (as someone in the process of obtaining a US visa currently) that anything of this "official" nature is tortuous and designed to make you ill at ease WHICHEVER country is concerned.

I also think any country has arrogance inherant to some degree and there is no degree to go bashing France specifically. Was the US arrogant to go through a UN process and then go into Iraq regardless when they didn't like the outcome? Am I arrogant to complain that Americans can't spell words in OUR language properly?

Probably yes on both counts

shadesofgrey

on Jul 27, 2004

Martin--I think you are right. I've had one pleasant visa obtaining experience and that was in Ireland--it was the same person who had issued me a visa three years prior and he thought it was funny that I was back and that he found his signature in my passport. I had a hideous time getting a student visa in the UK--it went so far that the US Embassy was encouraging me to declare that my passport had been stolen by the British Government and apply for a new one.

It's the nature of the job that the people behind the desk are going to be business-like and cold...they've got to be with the amount of abuse that is hurled at them daily!

I'm with Solitar on this one--sounds like the work of one overly pissed off employee and not the official word of France.

Castle

on Jul 28, 2004

despite smattering of jeers, it appeared to me as if lance armstrong was welcomed warmly as he entered paris at the end of the tour de france. i gotta wonder if our citizens would be as gracious if the situation were reversed and a french athlete took the championship of an 'american' sport 6 years in a row.

"a smattering of jeers" ?? if this is gracious to you then I am at a loss for words.
Quote from the Sunday Times News -
"But many, particularly the French, deplore Armstrong. They accuse him of cheating the doping detection, a charge the American spends half his days denying. They spit in his face in the Alps, and he rides straight past them.
They applaud when Richard Virenque, a Moroccan-born Frenchman, passes through the Pyranees and the Alps, and claims a lesser record of being seven times the King of the Mountains."

I won't even go into the punishment Lance took from the French press.

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