Shortly after the newly elected conservative president Jacques Chirac announced that nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific would be resumed on June 13, the French Green Party issued a statement, reprinted below, condemning the decision.
The eight nuclear tests announced tonight by Jacques Chirac threaten to definitively destroy Moruroa Atoll in the Pacific. In the name of the murderous "national interest", in unilaterally resuming tests, France is taking on a heavy responsibility vis- -vis humanity.
Jacques Chirac has given us a huge lesson in political cynicism. During the presidential campaign he took care not to mention the tests. However he admits that as far back as May 8 he spoke to the New Zealand prime minister about them.
The period chosen [to announce it] â straight after the signing of the Non-Proliferation Treaty and before the Test Ban Treaty â undermines the sincerity of these commitments. This is the first evidence of hypocrisy!
The president claims to have the backing of all the competent experts. But what scientist would have been able to affirm "that there are absolutely no ecological consequences" when all the ecologists of the entire world unanimously condemn the destructive effects of testing? This is the second act of hypocrisy!
By this "irrevocable decision" President Chirac, in an authoritarian manner, is going against three out of every four French people who have declared themselves hostile to the renewal of nuclear testing.
The Greens take President Chirac at his word when he affirms "the opportunity for all scientific personnel to observe" the tests and, as of tomorrow, we will send independent experts to the Pacific.