Je suis fière de participer au lancement de @LeRubicon 👏, nouvelle plateforme francophone de débat sur les affaires internationales et de sécurité, avec un article qui revient sur la crise AUKUS.
En un mot : attention !
En plusieurs mots : lire le papier ou le thread ⬇️
1/11
Deux mois après AUKUS - « rupture majeure de confiance » décriée par la France - les relations FR-US semblent réparées. Déclaration jointe lançant des initiatives, visites de haut niveau y compris VP Harris, et récemment excellente coordination transatlantique sur la Russie.
Comment est-on passé aussi vite d’un état de crise FR-US majeure à une relation renouvelée, voire même plus proche qu’avant la crise ? Deux réponses : 1- fruit d’un travail diplomatique approfondi à Washington, mené depuis près de 20 ans suite à la crise FR-US sur l’Irak ;
2- aboutissement d'une décennie de grande proximité stratégique franco-américaine. Alignement d’intérêt et alignement de volonté de la FR et des US (sur le terro, l’Iran, le climat…), coopération militaire intense et effacement relatif des autres européens (UK et All)
MAIS la crise AUKUS doit aussi servir de coup de semonce pour les relations franco-américaines : malgré sa rapide résolution, la crise signale que des forces centrifuges sont en train de fragiliser le partenariat FR-US, et qu’il ne faut pas se reposer sur ses lauriers.
Le défi chinois trône au sommet des priorités américaines: la relation avec la France, pour qui la lutte contre le terrorisme jihadiste reste la priorité numéro un, perd de sa centralité. Les engagements américains au Moyen-Orient feront l’objet de nouvelles reviews, donc risque.
Où sont les grands efforts diplomatiques communs (comme sur Iran et climat) ? Pas du côté des efforts français de gestion de crise - Libye, Liban, ni des autres priorités de l’administration, comme la politique étrangère pour la classe moyenne ou Sommet pour la démocratie
Sur plusieurs sujets clefs, les US considèrent désormais l'UE comme plus déterminant que les Etats membres. Ex : dialogue UE-US sur la Chine, TTC. Le renforcement du lien Bruxelles-Washington accroît la nervosité de Paris, qui ne veut pas rester sur la touche.
Les autres partenaires européens reprennent leur place. Les démocrates veulent travailler avec la nouvelle coalition allemande qui partage leurs vues, sur le climat entre autres. Les Britanniques font un retour, mais ne participent plus à rapprocher les deux rives de l’Atlantique
Enfin la France connaît un moment conservateur et de repli sur soi, et elle apparaît en décalage avec les progressistes américains. A force de dénoncer la supposée « américanisation culturelle » de la France sur les questions d’identité, le dialogue bilatéral perd en qualité.
Pour retrouver la convergence FR-US, quelques pistes pour la France : s’assurer de l’appui des Européens pour toute velléité d’autonomisation ; co-construire avec les Américains des propositions diplomatiques ; réparer les relations avec le Royaume-Uni.
A ces conditions, France et US peuvent de nouveau retrouver un alignement d'intérêt et de volonté. Sans cette convergence renouvelée, passer sous le rouleau compresseur des choix stratégiques américains pourrait devenir une habitude. [end]
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This week confirmed recent trends: violence at Zemmour’s 1st meeting, a Macron tour de force to launch #PFUE2022, Pécresse picking up speed. But one disruption occurred on the left, worth highlighting even though it’s already fizzled...A #FrenchFriday 🧵 with @BlochAgneska 1/15
Faced with ever weaker poll numbers, Socialist presidential candidate and mayor of Paris @Anne_Hidalgo staked everything on an announcement on @TF1 that she was in favor of organizing a “popular primary” for the left. tf1.fr/tf1/jt-20h/vid… 2/
How to grasp Eric Zemmour’s non-candidacy? This week for #FrenchFriday, @BlochAgneska and I highlight a new report from @j_jaures that analyzes his ideology, image, electorate, and where things might be headed. Some takeaways ⬇️ 1/14 jean-jaures.org/publication/le…
At the heart of @j_jaures report, the conviction that there is a need to take @ZemmourEric's (almost) candidacy seriously, especially at a time when many in the media, like Trump in his time, tend to take him literally but not seriously. Is Zemmour a bubble close to bursting? 2/
No, bc there is a deep ideology at the heart of his discourse. @MiloMLB and @PotierFred show his intellectual roots, from Drumont to Bainville to Maurras --- and how Zemmour doesn’t believe in politics, only in persecutions. To repress the demographic trends he abhors. 3/
Earlier today, @POTUS met with French Prez @EmmanuelMacron at the French Embassy to Vatican. A highly anticipated meeting, a month and a half after infamous AUKUS spat, producing long joint statement. What’s the status of the FR-US relationship? Here, a thread. #FrenchFriday 1/
After France called AUKUS a “betrayal”&"stab in the back”, US quickly determined there was a need to fix the situation. Couldn’t afford a crisis of such magnitude with #OldestAlly. So Macron and Biden had decided on a process of “in-depth consultations” 2/ whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/…
Consultations have been taking place in a sustained way over the past month. Americans have indeed brought out the big guns – a succession of high-level US officials passed through Paris or met bilaterally with French counterparts, and a lot has been discussed. 3/
July 4th has come and gone, and, with it, all remaining illusions that travel will reopen between Europe and the US. As I have shared in this @washingtonpost article, this policy is only causing hardship. 1/
Since I started writing on the issue, European officials, as well as Europeans under travel ban, have repeatedly professed their faith that travel will reopen “soon,” that reciprocity is “around the corner,” that “Americans will realize the policy doesn’t make sense anymore.” 2/
“You’ll see, Joe Biden will announce it before his European tour in June.” He didn’t. “You know, Sec Blinken will address it when he visits Italy for G20.” He hasn’t. “Come on, Biden is just waiting for his own July 4th deadline, and then he will lift the ban”.
He. Did. Not.
3/
For the past few weeks, French politics have been colored in 50 shades of Right. A year ahead of the foretold presidential duel between Macron and Le Pen, France is already battling against some of the foulest aspects of nationalist politics. #FrenchFriday THREAD 1/
Squeezed between Macron’s LREM and Le Pen’s RN, Les Républicains (LR) are struggling to stake out their territory. With the regional elections approaching in June, negotiations are taking place at the local level to determine if and how to unite against the far right. 2/
LR Renaud Muselier, from the PACA region, negotiated a unity list with LREM, only to be rebuffed by his party and forced to renounce the idea. The pushback could lead LR to continue losing to LREM, although it is unclear which needs the other. 3/ lemonde.fr/politique/arti…
Yesterday French president Macron participated in an event in honor of the creation of the @AtlanticCouncil new Europe Center. A discussion with @benjaminhaddad packed with elements of Macron's doctrine - and some contrast to Biden's own foreign policy speech on the same day 1/
Macron insisted on the need for a "result-oriented multilateralism". In his view, Western powers have lost ground to China due to their inability to deliver results, including on vaccine. So, to regain credibility, making the multilateral system work is priority 2/
Biden doesn't talk about multilateralism, but about global cooperation to restore U.S. leadership. So the contrast is more a question of degree than nature: for the French, multilateralism should be inclusive to be efficient. The US wants to lead again. 3/