RIYADH, 24 February 2004 — A group of French MPs concluded a three-day visit to Riyadh yesterday. According to members of the group, they left convinced that Saudi leaders were bent on pressing ahead with gradual reform.
The five-member delegation, led by Jean-Louis Bernard, head of the Franco-Saudi Friendship Group in the French Parliament, arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday night at the invitation of the Shoura Council.
“You can tell that there is a will, chiefly on the part of Crown Prince Abdullah, to reform ... He favors gradual reforms” that will have a better chance of being accepted by a majority of the population, Bernard said.
He was at pains to say that the French MPs had not lectured Saudi leaders about the need for reform. “We did not come here to tell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia what it should do. It is up to the leader and the people to take the decisions they deem appropriate,,” he said.
The group included Bernard and members of the French National Assembly — Antoine Carré, Axel Poniatowski, Jean-Pierre Kusheida and Pierre Lellouche.
Bernard said religious tradition continues to be of great importance in the Kingdom, home to the cradle of Islam. This explains, he said, why Saudi leaders exercise such great caution in instituting reforms.
