New French ambassador aims to mend ties with the MLP

New French ambassador Patrick Chrismant said yesterday he intended to restore relations between his embassy and the Labour Party after they were severed following comments made by his predecessor Didier Destremau.

"I shall do my utmost to have good relations with the opposition, particularly the leader of the opposition," he said after presenting his diplomatic credentials to President Guido de Marco yesterday.

Mr Chrismant speaks Maltese, having had a Maltese nanny, whom he considered as being his 'second mother'.

Labour leader Alfred Sant had refused to meet Mr Destremau prior to his departure from Malta because of statements the ambassador had made during his term, and particularly in the light of remarks he made to The Times last month.

But the new ambassador said he would call on Dr Sant when he finished his calls on the government authorities.

"I hope he will accept to honour me with his trust and confidence," he said.

The Labour Party had accused Mr Destremau of surpassing "all acceptable limits of correct diplomatic behaviour, civility and notions of personal respect".

However, Mr Destremau had expressed optimism that his successor would renew the link between the embassy and the MLP.

A political sciences graduate, Mr Chrismant, 55, said he strongly valued personal relationships.

Mr Chrismant introduced himself to the President in Maltese and later also used the language to explain how he spent his childhood in Morocco with a Maltese nanny Marie Buttigieg.

"Nista nitkellem ftit bil-Malti ghaliex meta kont tifel messitni x-xorti kbira li kelli nanny Kristjana Maltija. Maghha kont nitkellem biss bil-Malti. Wara li mietet kont nitkellem bil-Malti biss darba f'mitt qamar u nsejt il-Malti, " he said. (I can speak a little Maltese because when I was a boy I had the good fortune to have a Christian Maltese nanny. I used to speak to her in Maltese. After she died I rarely spoke Maltese).

Mr Chrismant said his nanny was an orphan as her father, a fisherman, had died during a storm and her mother died when she was two.

His nanny's family had emigrated to Algeria in 1850.

After her mother's death Marie was taken to a nunnery where she was looked after by nuns. Marie also died at a young age.

"For me she was like a second mother," Mr Chrismant said.

Speaking on his diplomatic posting to Malta after serving as an ambassador to Albania, Mr Chrismant said: "I feel that this appointment is a dream becoming reality. It is even more stimulating because of the time at which I am arriving in Malta.

"It is a matter of principle but my country is very much in favour of the Maltese candidacy and we shall do everything we can to help the candidacy.

"But we are also respecting the liberty of the Maltese nation which would have to pronounce itself on the issue which marks a new page in history," he said.

"Personally I hope that Malta, which was so European and which was a kind of link between the northern and the southern coast of the Mediterranean, will become a member of our European family.

"But the decision of the Maltese people is something we will respect absolutely. It is up to the Maltese nation," he added.

Mr Chrismant said he wanted to continue the work of his predecessor to improve relations between Malta and France.

"I will carry on my duty with absolute respect to Maltese sovereignty and also with a very strong wish never to do something which may be interpreted as interfering in Maltese internal affairs," he said.

Mr Chrismant's diplomatic career started in 1972. He occupied various positions in French missions overseas, until he was appointed first secretary at the French Embassy in Ankara, between 1978 and 1980. He then served as second counsellor in Islamabad till 1981, in Helsinki till 1985 and in Tokyo till 1988. Mr Chrismant also served in Athens.

Mr Chrismant served as ambassador in Skopje between 1994 and 1996 and in Tirana between 1996 and 2001.

Russian ambassador Valentin S. Vlasov, and Brazilian ambassador Joaquim L.C. Palmiero also presented their diplomatic credentials to the President yesterday.

Mr Vlasov served as deputy chairman of the Central Election Committee of Russia.

Among other diplomatic postings, Mr Palmiero served as minister counsellor at the Brazilian embassy in Washington and Tokyo. He has been based in Tripoli since 2000.