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18 January 2011
Last updated at 05:11 ET
The French government has been accused by the Socialist opposition of a "deafening silence" over the turmoil in its former protectorate, Tunisia.
Socialist leader Martine Aubry said the government had failed to condemn Tunis over its violent repression of protests "which everyone else deplored".
Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has been defending French policy in parliament.
Analysts say Paris has been scrambling to defend its policy in the region.
The government long supported President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as an economic ally and as a perceived bulwark against Islamist militancy, they note.
However, once it became evident he had lost power on Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy's government appeared to drop him abruptly.
According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Ben Ali's plane was refused permission to land in France when he fled. The deposed leader found refuge in Saudi Arabia.
A month of unrest in Tunisia has left 78 people dead and scores injured.
'Reverse gear' Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ms Alliot-Marie said that France had a duty to support democracy while respecting the rule of law and refraining from meddling in the affairs of another state.
Earlier, in an interview on French TV channel France 2, Ms Aubry said: "There has been an absolutely deafening silence from the French government."
She condemned Ms Alliot-Marie for suggesting at one stage that France might help the Ben Ali authorities to "restore calm".
"She probably did not mean sending troops but when a people is fighting with extraordinary dignity to restore democracy and France, land of freedoms, steps back, the world cannot understand and the Tunisian people cannot understand," she added.
Tunisia was a French protectorate until 1956.
Christian Bouquet, a North Africa expert and geopolitics professor at the University of Bordeaux III, says the French government relied for years on Mr Ben Ali as a "rampart against Islamic militancy".
But policy towards the Tunisian president "suddenly went into reverse gear" last week, he told Reuters news agency.
"There was without question a brutal realisation of the fact that France's initial position was going to hit a wall," the political scientist said.
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Socialist leader Martine Aubry said the government had failed to condemn Tunis over its violent repression of protests "which everyone else deplored".
Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie has been defending French policy in parliament.
Analysts say Paris has been scrambling to defend its policy in the region.
The government long supported President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali as an economic ally and as a perceived bulwark against Islamist militancy, they note.
However, once it became evident he had lost power on Friday, President Nicolas Sarkozy's government appeared to drop him abruptly.
According to unconfirmed reports, Mr Ben Ali's plane was refused permission to land in France when he fled. The deposed leader found refuge in Saudi Arabia.
A month of unrest in Tunisia has left 78 people dead and scores injured.
'Reverse gear' Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, Ms Alliot-Marie said that France had a duty to support democracy while respecting the rule of law and refraining from meddling in the affairs of another state.
Earlier, in an interview on French TV channel France 2, Ms Aubry said: "There has been an absolutely deafening silence from the French government."
She condemned Ms Alliot-Marie for suggesting at one stage that France might help the Ben Ali authorities to "restore calm".
"She probably did not mean sending troops but when a people is fighting with extraordinary dignity to restore democracy and France, land of freedoms, steps back, the world cannot understand and the Tunisian people cannot understand," she added.
Tunisia was a French protectorate until 1956.
Christian Bouquet, a North Africa expert and geopolitics professor at the University of Bordeaux III, says the French government relied for years on Mr Ben Ali as a "rampart against Islamic militancy".
But policy towards the Tunisian president "suddenly went into reverse gear" last week, he told Reuters news agency.
"There was without question a brutal realisation of the fact that France's initial position was going to hit a wall," the political scientist said.
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