The French newspaper Les Echos said that Paris is working alone against what it called "the expansionist goals of Ankara" in Libya, attributing this to its foreign policy in the region, as it prefers to work alone without consulting its European partners, which weakens it greatly today.

In an article by Dominique Moisi, Special Adviser at the French Montan Institute, the newspaper likened the position of France to Turkey to that of Pope Pius II of the Turks when he said in 1456, six years after the conquest of Constantinople (Istanbul), "We are falling asleep ... and we leave the Turks Free to do whatever they like. "

The writer commented that France, by this escalation, appears in 2020 much closer to the position of Pope Pius II than it to the position of François I, King of France (1515-1547) who allied with the Turks to balance the power of the Habsburg family, which he sees as a reversal of positions between France and Europe.

Is France repeating the error?
The newspaper asked, Is Europe today centuries after France because of the pro-Turkish stance of François I and his lack of interest in European solidarity? Noting that French President Emmanuel Macron appears to be the only one within the European Union and possibly NATO that is standing up to Turkey today.

The author asked: Should France be satisfied with condemning the lack of courage and vision of some of its partners and allies, or should it be aware that its policy may be responsible - albeit in part - for the state of relative isolation that it is in? To show that the answer may be a mixture of the two.

The writer pointed out that the Libyan problem, which has become the center of tension between France and Turkey, can be considered as an example of these diplomatic issues that start with a bad way with which it is impossible to correct later.

The writer was surprised that France did much for the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi at the beginning of the five-year term of former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and then turned against him at the end of the mandate itself, indicating that this policy cannot represent the best of French diplomacy.

In the context of the same previous policies, the writer asks, did France, under Macron, repeat the same mistake because it believed that it could advance on the Libyan file alone? He pointed out that the conference on the future of Libya was held in Berlin, which refused to participate militarily in 2011, not in Paris, which was enthusiastic about that.

A bet on a losing horse
Dominique Moisi pointed out that France may be with its support for the retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, the anti-government supported by the United Nations, risked entering a situation that appears contrary to its principles and makes its leadership of a common European position more difficult.

And in Libya - as the author says - Paris finds itself in the camp of Russia, Egypt and the Emirates, along with a general with a suspicious reputation, and he has begun to lose his status recently, which warns that choosing a "morally problematic" party is not the same as choosing a "losing" party.

The author attacked Turkey's policy, but at the same time he saw that France's policy was far from Europe on an issue of concern to all the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, especially Italy.

The writer concluded that the continuous escalation between France and Turkey, two members of NATO poses a double problem, first for Libya, which suffers a fate approaching the fate of Syria more and more, and second for NATO, which will be weakened by the increasing tension between two of its main members.

The author concluded that France cannot have an audible word among the Europeans as long as it acts in Libya as François I ignored the rest of Europe.