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Oct 24, 2024
Headline: Macron and the dangers of ‘bluster’ diplomacy
Sub-headline: Despite the many setbacks he has encountered, the French president claims to still play a key role in what he considers to be his ‘reserved domain:’ the international stage.
“No bluster, please!” Michel Barnier’s advice to his ministers, as soon as his government was named on September 23, was obviously not addressed to Emmanuel Macron. Or was it? At the time, the prime minister was encouraging the members of his team to be “irreproachable and modest,” even if this meant breaking with the style of government previously placed under the direct authority of the president, himself renowned for his “performative” speech, capable of literally achieving an act by the very fact of saying it out loud.
The advice given by Barnier, busy with the difficulties of leading a coalition without a majority, opposed by the left and under the watchful eye of the far right, has a curious resonance when it comes to foreign policy, which Macron considers to be his “reserved domain.” If there is one area in which Macron has demonstrated this esbroufe – meaning, according to the dictionary, a “display of pretentious and insolent manners” – it is this one.
Editor: please excuse my rendering in italics of the final portions of the above paragraph, Macrons insolence is as usual comic, without intent!
The former investment banker cannot be blamed for having attempted a lot on the international stage since the start of his first term in 2017, in a world more brutal than ever. He has undoubtedly learned a great deal from his many failures, with Donald Trump, whom he tried to coax, without much success, or with Vladimir Putin, who used Macron’s attempts at mediation to buy time before invading Ukraine in February 2022. And let’s not forget France’s withdrawal from the Sahel, under pressure from Russia, in the wake of military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger. Often, the president has inflamed debates, as when he warned of NATO’s “brain death” in 2019.
Keeping a low profile on the domestic scene since July and his camp’s defeat in the legislative elections organized in the wake of the failed dissolution of the Assemblée Nationale, Macron has been redoubling his activity on the international stage. He belatedly decided to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September and followed this up with an official visit to Canada. From October 28 to 30, he will make a state visit to Morocco. He will then head for Brazil for a G20 summit in mid-November, less than two weeks after the election of a new US president. He may then travel to Saudi Arabia in early December. Not forgetting his many planned visits to Brussels, Berlin, Cyprus and Budapest, where he will be on November 7, for the fifth summit of one of his initiatives, the European Political Community, the future of which is still uncertain.
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Editor: If I were a Columnist for The New York Times like Friedman, Brooks or Stephens, I might choose a more low grade melodrama, that almost resembles reality, as my political instrument expressed as: ‘Is France in Trouble’ ! Or more aptly, a frank statement on Macon’s megalomania?
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Up until now, the prime minister has nevertheless been closely involved in decisions in what Macron considers to be a “shared domain.” Coordination between the two men and their advisers is real, but friction cannot be ruled out, particularly on the question of migration.
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On this front, Macron hesitated for a long time at the start of the conflict, before coming out increasingly clearly in support of the resistance and Volodymyr Zelensky.
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Some of his initiatives as chief of the armed forces, such as the possibility of sending ground troops to the Ukraine, have fallen flat, after provoking a resounding outcry from France’s allies.
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… Macron has gradually hardened his tone toward Benjamin Netanyahu over the course of the war being waged in Gaza, and even more so since Lebanon and Hezbollah have been the daily target of bombardments. The escalation on the ground is accompanied by a form of verbal escalation on the part of Macron, questioning arms deliveries to Israel, or urging him to respect the UN.
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After calling for a 21-day truce on September 25, Macron and US President Joe Biden were humiliated by Netanyahu, who cared more about pushing his advantage against Hezbollah. But with this kind of conference, which Macron loves, the president hopes to once again have a grip on international events and show that France still carries some weight in the region.
As a regular reader of Le Monde, The Times, the New York Times, The Spectator, The New Statesman, The Telegraph, The Guardian and sometimes The Financial Times and The Economist, there is not much reporting on France, the French and their politics, and even less on Macron!
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