On Monday 28 August in Paris, French President Emmanuel Macron said that it was necessary to “take risks” in order to propose a reform of international governance – “in particular the IMF and the World Bank” – which is suffering from a “crisis of representation”.
Keen to get the under-represented emerging countries more involved, he indicated that he would propose to his European counterparts that they “work on new formats with India, Brazil and South Africa”.
According to Mr Macron, these proposals will help to counter the narrative of certain emerging countries that question multilateralism and the UN principles established after the Second World War under Western domination. He referred in particular to the Gulf States, which prefer to work with India or China, which are “less demanding”, to lend to or invest in developing countries outside the rules and criteria established by the Western powers, including Europe, which is accused by these countries of being “an old continent in demographic decline, energy-dependent and technologically uncertain”. In this respect, he noted the interest shown by countries such as Iran and Argentina in the recent ‘BRICS+’ Summit, with less enthusiasm for the ‘G20’ format, apart from the African Union.
Advocating France’s international role as a “trusted partner”, the French President spoke of a number of actions and theatres of operation, including: – forthcoming initiatives to renew relations with Maghreb and Mediterranean countries; – “a policy of supporting democracy” in Africa by forging new links with stakeholders in the same society to avoid being “caught out” in the case of a major event, as was recently the case in Niger; – enhancing France’s strategic presence in the Indo-Pacific region by promoting a “third path” of cooperation that is neither China’s nor the United States’; - France’s bid to join the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organisation, including French Guyana.
Ukraine. With regard to Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, Mr Macron repeated that “Russia cannot and must not win the war”, at the risk of calling into question the principle of the inviolability of a State’s sovereignty. “Peace does not mean recognising a state of affairs, because that would be preparing for tomorrow’s war”, he added, calling on French diplomacy to act to convince and “avoid international division”.
According to the French President, new treaties will be needed to establish lasting peace in the east of the EU. To contribute to this, he hoped that the Europeans, within NATO, would strengthen their military autonomy in order to take responsibility for the security of their neighbourhood.
Mr Macron also emphasised the importance of the European Political Community (EPC), which will meet again on 6 October in Granada (see EUROPE 13192/1), to think about Europe in the broadest sense and developing “strategic intimacy” between partner countries on common issues such as “migration, energy and connectivity”.
As far as the European Union is concerned, the French President noted a “dual movement” ahead, which will involve “institutional changes” with, on the one hand, “a drive to deepen” common policies and, on the other, “enlargement” to include the Western Balkans (see other news). He did not rule out a “multi-speed” Europe, with certain pioneering countries showing the way for the other Member States.
European sovereignty. Mr Macron also called for “a policy of European independence” along the lines of the Versailles Summit in March 2022 (see EUROPE 12909/1), which would enable Europe to choose and diversify its partners at a crucial time of “international reallocation of resources and innovation”.
In particular, he called for “a clarified energy policy”. To achieve this, we need “more renewables, more nuclear power and more electricity interconnections in Europe”, he stressed, advocating the “free circulation of low-carbon electrons in Europe”. He also admitted that not all the partners were in agreement, with “a lot of convincing work with Germany” proving necessary.
Finally, Mr Macron called for “assertive industrial policies” at EU level, referring to his speech in The Hague on strategic economic autonomy (see EUROPE 13159/2). “Europe has a tendency to over-regulate and under-invest”, he noted, without reiterating his explicit call for a regulatory break in the environmental field. He reiterated France’s position in favour of a “more realistic” European trade policy, particularly in line with European climate objectives, in order to “defend the European production base”.
See Mr Macron’s speech (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/8d6 (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)