Emmanuel Macron on the diplomatic offensive

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, during his press conference on the economic and political situation in Lebanon, Sunday, September 27.

Lewis Joly / AFP

Text by: Valérie Gas Follow

5 mins

Emmanuel Macron is everywhere, currently in Brussels for the European summit where it is a question in particular of the tensions with Turkey, a file in which he is at the forefront.

The Head of State has just returned from a trip to the Baltic countries where the situation in Belarus and Nagorno-Karabakh have been widely discussed.

He was in Lebanon and Iraq in early September.

Emmanuel Macron fully plays the diplomatic card.

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Emmanuel Macron's comeback was undeniably placed under the sign of diplomatic activism.

And even before the start of the school year, the French head of state set the tone when he visited

, just two days after the explosion that devastated Beirut.

The president, who had to stop his international trips because of the Covid-19 epidemic, has shown his willingness to resume his pilgrim's staff on the international scene.

Each time, Emmanuel Macron tries to mark the spirits with the images, for example in the streets of devastated Beirut where he responds to the arrests of the angry inhabitants, and with the words as during the press conference organized on September 27 at the 'Elysee Palace during which he questioned

who did not keep their commitment to form a mission government and where he publicly pointed the finger at Hezbollah.

“ 

 ” he told the Lebanese.

A language of "

It is his way of carrying the voice of France, of trying to move the lines with what he presents as a language of " 

 ", which he also used with Turkish President Erdogan with whom he talks are particularly tense about the tensions in the Eastern Mediterranean or even in recent days in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Emmanuel Macron is a follower of the verbal balance of power.

He assumes to say things bluntly to his interlocutors like Vladimir Poutin or Donald Trump.

And he has made it his trademark since his arrival at the Elysee Palace.

What message does Emmanuel Macron want to convey?

He defends multilateralism, international law and most of the time sits on the side of the peoples who aspire to democracy and freedom, the values ​​of France which he makes his banner.

In Lebanon, it is to the people that he addresses himself when he denounces corruption and asks for reforms, even if it means exposing himself to the accusation of interference in the affairs of the country.

When he meets the Belarusian opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, during her trip to Lithuania where she has been in exile since the disputed election, it is also to send the message that " 

 ".

For Emmanuel Macron,

What results

Does this voluntarism and omnipresence bear fruit?

This is the whole point.

In Lebanon, where he was personally and strongly involved, Emmanuel Macron suffered a failure.

By going to Beirut for the second time in a month at the beginning of September, he had fought hard for the promise of all parties to form within two weeks a mission government charged with carrying out reforms.

He was delighted at a press conference organized on site.

But the promise was not kept.

The Prime Minister threw in the towel.

Emmanuel Macron measured the limits of his influence and was very upset, as shown by the press conference he organized in Paris urgently, one Sunday evening, to denounce this " 

 ".

At the same time, it succeeds, and this is certainly one of its objectives, in being identified as an interlocutor, in exercising a form of leadership among European leaders.

The proof,

where they call together for the " 

 " in Nagorno-Karabakh which has just been made public by the French presidency.

Are there two Macrons, one on the international scene and one on the national scene?

The question comes up often at this time, because the diplomatic activism of the re-entry was not accompanied, according to the detractors of the president, by the same implication on the national level.

Managing the health crisis is complicated.

His lack of reaction after

drew criticism.

The postponements of his announced speech on “separatism”, which finally took place this Friday, October 2, also earned him the charge of lacking courage.

In France, Emmanuel Macron is walking on eggshells.

► Also to listen: Has Emmanuel Macron transformed French diplomacy?

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