His Excellency the French ambassador to Malta, Jean-Marc Rives, has travelled extensively as a diplomat. Now in Malta he found time to talk to Marie Benoît
The new French ambassador has a ready smile, smiling eyes. Jean-Marc Rives’ gentle and warm smile may give the impression of a diplomat who is new to the game. This is far from the truth for His Excellency has been serving his country for almost thirty years, in fact, since he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in April, 1978. Throughout these years he has seen and experienced “many and various important private or public events.” He recalls, for example, that it was in New Orleans that he was invited for the first time to Thanksgiving by American friends “commemorating freedom and prosperity recovered by the first Americans.” He is the sort of man you can listen to for hours: an anecdote here, a life theory there. He continues: “Our first child was born in Washington, two days after the most beautiful Christmas I have ever had.”
After Washington he was posted to the embassy in Islamabad. “I was introduced to the civilisation of Islam by people of high culture as well as people of modest origins in Pakistan.” One immediately detects a genuine lack of airs and graces. His is an informal elegance which makes you feel immediately at ease.
There was another stint at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris before he went to Finland where “I witnessed the joy and determination of this country to enter the EU.”
In 2002 M. Rives was appointed to the French Embassy in Spain. There “I attended the transformation of an old cultured country into a very modern one.”
But the smile momentarily disappears as he also recalls tragic events which have left an indelible mark and which “will be forever sealed in my memory.” The explosion of the army ammunitions depot in April 1988 in Rawalpindi in Pakistan is one such event. “It left many people dead,” he says with more sadness than diplomacy.
He was in Spain, too, when the horrendous attacks on the train stations in Madrid took place on 11 March 2004. We all remember the horror with which we heard the news. “In such terrible situations, it is really the courage, dignity and strength of the people that make you believe in and experience the value of human solidarity and compassion,” he says with feeling.
The French residence in Zebbug has been photographed time and again and you may recall that it was purchased in 1997 because of its historical links with France.
His Excellency, who has been living there with his wife Anne-Dominique since their arrival late last year, appreciates the fact that it is “one of the most beautiful residences that there are on the Island.” This impressive building situated in the heart of the quiet yet colourful village of Haz-Zebbug, is not only rich in its architecture but also very rich in its history. His Excellency comments: “As a matter of fact throughout the years this building saw a great number of exceptional visitors including the French Grand Master of the Order of Malta Emmanuel de Rohan-Polduc. This Grand Master fell in love with this town so much so that on the 21st of June 1777 he decided to give it the title of ‘city’, a title that wasn’t given often. Today Haz-Zebbug is still sometimes referred to as the ‘city of Rohan’ and still wears the old Britanny’s coats of arms from Rohan.”
M. Rives, certainly did his homework before coming to Malta. He continues: “Then, ironically in 1798, when Napoleon came to Malta the house was the place where the most important plots against him were organised!”
Since the house was purchased a number of works have been carried out and M. Rives comments that it is a custom for every Ambassador “to give it his personal touch.” Lately the gardens were made more accessible and may today be used for outdoor events. “On the other hand internal works were intended not only to exploit the assets of this house but also to make it feel more ‘home’ than ‘house.’ First and foremost, the Residence is meant to be open to my French compatriots, my Maltese neighbours as well as all the Maltese and international personalities who visit, hoping that they will feel in this house of France as in their home. It is also, as a matter of fact, the heaven that I share with my family.” His family being his wife Anne-Dominique, who also speaks excellent English and his two daughters, Amélie and Camille.
Does His Excellency have any particular views on immigration, presently, one of the most hotly debated problems in Europe, with everyone fighting over the answers? It is perhaps pertinent for me to comment here that France has the largest Muslim community in Europe, some five million people. A third of France’s population has ancestry from outside its boarders. M. Rives gives me his views on this hot topic: “Immigration is a manifold question. It has always existed in the history of our world. The reasons range from economical to political; from those to do with security, humanitarian to philosophical and religious ones. Persons or groups of persons emigrate more under the constraints of necessity than out of pure willingness. Nowadays, immigration is accelerating and amplifying as we know, especially around the Mediterranean basin, due to increased facilities of communication. But the reasons remain the same as they have ever been. Migratory flows take shape mainly because there are imbalances between rich and poor countries, safe ones and insecure ones, democratic ones and non-democratic ones.”
M. Rives is adamant that on the one hand, “one must address the most fundamental rights of the human being: the right to life, the right to food, the right to a job, the right to a family, to sum up, the right to personal dignity. On the other hand, one has to take into consideration, the capacity of a destination or a transit country to properly address these different rights because, in the end, we must keep in mind the dignity of the immigrants. Not only the States but also the individuals are concerned, the associations, the regional and world organizations are concerned and are jointly concerned.”
He agrees that there may be, at times, pressures in some specific geographical areas. But “at the beginning, as well as in the end, it is a global question, with such crucial aspects as insuring a well-balanced and sustainable development, security and democracy and fighting against organized crime, which takes advantage of poor and desperate people.”
He agrees that there are no easy answers to such questions though there are immediate ones such as accommodating immigrants, providing them with health care, giving them or not a status, providing them with a job…Then there are long term solutions “such as assisting poor countries in their development, helping them in establishing democracy, instituting more justice. In the meantime, you have to face the risk of xenophobia and racism and lay proper grounds for cultural integration in our societies.”
This genial man then refers to the recent Euro-African Ministerial conference of Rabat which took place on 10-11 July on migrations and development. “This conference was yet another effort to address this problem of immigration. Its objective: to build a partnership between African and European countries to find lasting solutions to the migratory challenge. Initially proposed by Spain and Morocco, with the active support of France, this conference has also received the support of the whole European Union on the basis of a mandate given by the European Council, as well as the active support of the European Commission. Its objective is to bring concrete, efficient and lasting solutions to the challenge of migratory flows thanks to a joint, holistic and balanced approach. The innovative dimension of this new partnership rest with two ideas: First, associating the source, transit and destination countries around migratory routes between Africa and Europe and secondly, taking at the same time into consideration development and co-development policies, the organization of legal migration and the fight against illegal immigration.”
France, M. Rives, explains, has formulated 18 proposals which will be published during this conference. His interest in and knowledge of the human problem of immigration, is evident. His boyish enthusiasm somehow makes you feel as if anything is possible.
We leave the subject of immigration and go on to France and other cultures. M. Rives is not only an able linguist but also a citizen of the world. What is his personal vision after living in so many diverse countries?
The French are well-known for their deep feelings for ‘Douce France,’ to use the words of Charles Trénet’s much loved song. Certainly, France is the tutor of the good life, the paragon of cultural fashion, the place we visit to feel the kiss of a superior civilization. It is supremely confident in its Frenchness, its shining wisdom – Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité…Solidarité. France still gives the world something different, in spite of globalization. A world without different cultures would be flat, dull. As General Charles de Gaulle was fond of saying, “France is …France.” Nobody doubts that France is special; certainly not the French. It is the largest, though not the most populous country, in Europe, and was once the most powerful. Its linguistic unity and its natural boundaries – France can be seen as a hexagonal fortress with sea on three sides and mountains on two – have given it a clearer identity, a less contested nationalism, than most countries which share a continent.
Its history is alive with symbols, events, heroes. France sees itself as the birthplace of modern ideas and modern politics. A snappier political credo than ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’ has still to be invented.
When Britain was manufacturing industrial and necessarily temporary objects, France was taking the lead in creating enduring, and now universal, abstractions. These ideals, which have dignified humankind, form part of France’s claim to its status as a universal nation. Add them to a cultural pre-eminence which has lasted through most of the last and present century – think of the French novel and French painting in the 19th, French film in the 20th – and a way of living, notorious for its discriminating pleasure in philosophy, love, food, drink and fashion, and France’s claim to be the global model for civilization can seem unanswerable. ‘Ah, the French, they know how to live!’ those who visit France, say.
Much as he loves Douce France, His Excellency comments:
“In each and every country I’ve lived in, whether for few or numerous years, I’ve been left with an impression. This is the result of the various experiences I had and the different people I’ve met. I have been very lucky to be able to familiarize myself with different cultures and customs, I’ve learnt other ways of doing and thinking. For a European, it was amazing to live the American way of life in Washington, moving on to Pakistan to discover Islam. Being a Mediterranean, it’s a value-added to discover Northern Europe. But what amazes me most is that even in the Mediterranean region, countries like France, Spain and Malta have completely different ways of life, of thinking and so much more.”
I have a feeling he operates on the principle that things are only interesting if you leave yourself open to chance.
M. Rives came to Malta for the first time in 2000, on the occasion of the inauguration of the chancery, “and if the country and its people didn’t immediately seduce me I wouldn’t have posted for it. Back then, many promises were made and with satisfaction I can say that six years later most of them were kept thanks to the Maltese inhabitants.”
And now that he is here what about his aspirations and objectives? He starts off by commenting that France is probably one of the few countries that have had a representation in Malta for a very, very long time. “France has been continuously represented in Malta since 1706. The least we can say is that our countries are no strangers to each other. We have had and we will keep on having excellent relations because, as Nations which became such throughout their respective histories, we share common values, freedom, peace and democracy. Our countries can understand each other because their identities were built with never ending efforts to preserve not only a historical identity but also a cultural one. With its accession to EU, Malta has entered another phase in its history. The European Union has brought us together and in this rapprochement, France is going towards Malta as much as Malta is going towards France.” The visit, last May in Paris of Malta’s Prime Minister, M. Rives continues, his meeting with the French President, “clearly indicates that this evolution is a very positive one and unequivocally proves that the various actions undertaken to get our two countries even closer are on the right track.”
Finally, His Excellency comments, an Ambassador’s role is to help in better understanding each other and in getting closer to one another. “The ways are many: political, economic, cultural, educational. I am happy to observe that on these various plans, things are progressing. But as the XVIIth century poet Jean de La Fontaine put it, the secret of success lies in the effort and nothing is ever gained for ever:
‘Travaillez, prenez de la peine : c’est le fond qui manque le moins.’ M. Rives knows his literature well, too. He quotes chapter and verse!
We wish him and his family an interesting and productive stay in Malta. We hope it will be an important spot in an ever-changing canvas that is the life of a career diplomat.