Claude Cheysson, French Foreign Minister under the Presidency of François Mitterrand, former European Union commissioner and an old advocate of the Iranian Resistance, passed away.
Claude Cheysson, the first foreign minister of socialist François Mitterrand administration (1981-1984), a well know figure in French diplomacy and a prominent international dignitary, passed away in Paris at 92 on Monday October 15, 2012.
Claude Cheysson was an old friend of the Iranian Resistance who welcomed stationing the National Council of Resistance of Iran in Auvers-sur- Oise, north of Paris, at the time when Massoud Rajavi, Iranian Resistance’s leader, entered France in 1981.
Several months after establishment of the first socialist government in France since the World War II, Mr. Rajavi’s plane which left Tehran’s air force base, reached France. As the French FM, Claude Cheysson immediately informed the president about the plane’s arrival. After approval of the plane’s landing in France, Mr. Rajavi was welcomed in France.
During his presence in France until 1986, Mr. Rajavi met with Mr. Cheysson on several occasions; including a meeting in France’s Socialist party congress in Bourg-en- Bresse in 1983 in which Mr. Rajavi, heading a delegation, participated and Mr. Cheysson commended Iranian struggle against the religious Fascism. He also met with Mr. Rajavi, the leader of the National Council of Resistance, in Baghdad.
In the years after, including when he was the head of French European Union MPs, Mr. Cheysson expressed his solidarity with the Iranian people’s aspirations for freedom and democracy during his several meetings with the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance Ms. Maryam Rajavi.
Francois Holland, French President; Jean-Marc Ayroult, French Prime Minister, and Lauran Fabius, Foreign Minister, saluted him and described his death a loss for France.
The French president Francois Holland, described Claude Cheysson a”worrier, smart politician, fervent” man who has greatly served his country.
The Prime Minister described Cheysson a “firm, fervent diplomat for north and south relations’ and paid tribute to him.
The Foreign Minister Lauran Fabius said: “Claude Cheysson was a courageous, brilliant, generous man and a diplomat beyond the usual norms who made enormous services especially to promotion of peace”.
Claude Cheysson was born in 1920, finished his studies in Polytechnic Institute and entered politics in 1948. He served in important and sensitive positions such as French Ambassador, French representative in Vietnam War negotiations and European Union commissioner.
He was among the pioneers of supporting the Iranian just Resistance in France and at international level as well.
Expressing regret for Mr. Cheysson’s demise, Mrs. Rajavi described him one of non-forgettable names in French politics and diplomacy who based on his deep insight of Iranian regime’s regress and fundamentalism led French diplomacy against the religious Fascism ruling Iran.
Paying tribute to this man of integrity, Mrs. Rajavi presented her condolences to the family of the late foreign minister, to the French people as well as the President of France, François Holland.