Minister apologizes for remarks on Germany’s Nazi past

Monday, May 22, 2000 | 8:58 a.m.

The leftist minister, who has roused political passions in the past, said on French radio that his remarks had been misunderstood. He said he was "deeply sorry."

"My analysis was too contracted ... it obviously has nothing to do with the caricatures and provocations that it has triggered," Chevenement said, adding that he "likes Germany a lot" and "bases the future of Europe on French-German relations."

Speaking on national television Sunday, Chevenement had said that Germany needs to alter its concept of the nation-state to forge closer ties with France.

"There is a tendency in Germany to imagine a federal structure for Europe which fits in with its own model," the minister said. "Deep down, it is still dreaming of the Holy Roman Empire. It hasn't cured itself of its past derailment into Nazism."

The remarks drew criticism from across the political spectrum. Former President Valery Giscard d'Estaing called them "intolerable."

The 61-year-old Chevenement has been interior minister since France's current left-wing government took power nearly three years ago. He resigned as defense minister during the Gulf War, opposed to France's joining the multinational coalition against Iraq.

France is to take over the rotating presidency of the European Union in July, and France and Germany have always been seen as the EU's motor. On Friday, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin held a brainstorming session with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac at Rambouillet near Paris to prepare the way for the French presidency of the EU.