Five Minutes in France By: The Delegation of France February 29, 2008 Mock United Nations

Geographic Information  Capital- Paris  Land Area- 640,053 square kilometers  Some Bordering Countries – Germany, Italy, Spain  Terrain- flat plains, gently rolling hills, mountains

 Imports- oil, machinery, plastics and chemicals  Exports- iron, steel and pharmaceutical products  GNP billion dollars  GDP billion dollars Economic Information

People  Religion- Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim  Ethnic groups- Celtic and Latin with Teutonic, Slavic, North Africa, Indochinese, Basque minorities

Political and Foreign Information  Main Political Parties- Citizen and Republican Movement, Democratic and European, French Communist  Allies- Germany and Saudi Arabia  Many disagreements with Great Britain and U.S.A. Nicolas Sarkozy

Brief History  France liberated  Fourth Republic experiences political instability  De Gaulle returns to power and founds fifth republic  Oil crisis followed by recession  1981-Socialist president elected and death penalty abolished De Gaulle

 Signing of the Amsterdam Treaty  Supported toppling of Taliban- regime in Afghanistan  Refused to support invasion of Iraq  2007-Nicolas Sarkozy elected Brief History (continued)

Domestic Issues  Unemployment problems  French youth protesting new labor law  France has more babies out of wedlock than any other European country

Tradition  At weddings bottles of Champagne are beheaded by a special-made saber  A puppet show is held on Christmas Eve and children’s shoes are filled with candy  Bastille Day is celebrated on July 14 th with fireworks and parades Bastille Day

Resolution 1  Drug trafficking is a major problem  Many countries use French ports to ship illegal drugs to other countries  The drug trafficking threatens the health and safety of not only French citizens but citizens of other countries as well

Proportion of acute drug-related deaths occurring under the age of 25 years in 2002

Resolution 2  Madagascar claims French territories in the Mozambique River  Glorieuses, Juan de Nova, Europa, Bassas da India and Tromelin are a few of the scattered islands involved in the dispute.

Closing  France is against the trafficking of drugs and urges other countries to feel the same.  Also, France feels that Madagascar should give back France’s rightful territory

The End