PARIS, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The French government is preparing to establish a "new alliance" with the United States after next week's election, The Telegraph reported Tuesday.
French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier declined to express a preference between President George Bush and his Democrat rival, Sen. John Kerry, but said a new alliance "must be based on mutual respect, which is not allegiance."
Relations between President Jacques Chirac and Bush have been described as beyond repair by some diplomats, based on France's adamant opposition to the war in Iraq.
However, the newspaper said a Kerry victory would be overwhelmingly welcomed in France, although Kerry plays down his fluency in the language, family links and memories of childhood summers in France.
Monday, the left-wing newspaper Liberation said victory for Bush would maintain the United States' image as an arrogant, imperialistic super-power guided by "a handful of ideologues hungry for adventure but deaf to the planet."