  The dynamics of a global reconnection in the presence of a poloidal shear
flow which is located in between magnetic islands is investigated. Different
linear regimes are identified according to the value of the resistivity and the
distance between the low-order resonant surfaces. It is found that the presence
of a small shear flow affects and significantly delays the global reconnection
processes. It is shown that this delay is linked to a breaking of symmetry
imposed by the existence of the shear flow and the generation of a mean
poloidal flow in the resistive layers.
