French tests ‘to continue’

Press, 11 August 1982, Page 16

French tests ‘to continue’

PA Wellington The leader of a French Senate delegation said in Wellington that he saw no reason why nuclear testing should be stopped in the South Pacific and not in the rest of the world.

Asked how much longer France would continue testing at Mururoa, Senator Leon Eeckhoutte said: "For a certain time .. you have to ask the Soviet Union, how long they are going to test.” There was no opposition at all in the French Senate to continued testing at Mururoa Atoll, he said.

He understood the concern felt in New Zealand about the testing, but said that the Pacific was very large. "The distance between Mu-

ruroa and New Zealand and Australia is very large, compared with the distance between Russian test sites in Siberia and the north of France, for instance," he said.

“All measures of security have been taken and there has never been an incident in New Zealand after a nuclear test on Mururoa.”

Asked why the French should test in the Pacific and not in Europe, Mr Eeckhoutte said that the Pacific was the safest because of the distances. “You don’t have that kind of environment in Europe at all."

The simmering row at the pacific Forum in Rotorua over the de-colonisation of Ndw Caledonia prompted Mr. Eeckhoutte .to say that New

Caledonian independence was not the main problem in the Pacific. Unemployment was growing, as was the rate of inflation. he said.

The French Government had explained its position. One day the New Caledonian population would be asked what it wanted: to stay in the French Republic, to have independence, or .to have some sort of associate status with France. “At the moment the Government thinks the population is not ready for this question,” he said. “I. can’t say when it will be ... The agitation and tension there

show the population is not in a position to make a proper decision.”

Today, the delegation of three Senators and the

French Cultural Affairs Commission administration will meet Government Ministers and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rowling) before dining with the Speaker of the House (Sir Richard Harrison). The main point of the visit is to look at ways to enable more. New Zealanders to learn French.

The. delegation has visited Christchurch and Akaroa, the visit to the latter, was to see what was left of the French influence.

"We found very British people with French names," Mr Beckhoutte said.