The Americans and the Russians are on a collision course and trying and each trying to strengthen their own camp. Biden crossed the lines and performed an impressive zigzag when he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman contrary to past statements, and in contrast Vladimir Putin visited Tehran and strengthened his ties with the Iranians and the Turks.
Against the background of these divisions, Paris has become a central axis within which Emmanuel Macron is trying to serve as the regional conciliator.
Last week several regional leaders made a pilgrimage to the Elysee Palace. Macron met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the President of the Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Abu Mazen, and on Saturday also spoke with the Iranian President. All these are added to the meeting at the beginning of the month between him and Yair Lapid at the Elysee Palace.
The meeting with the President of the Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed took place at the beginning of last week in France. At the end of the meeting, which mainly dealt with the global energy crisis that is troubling Europe in general and France in particular, the two leaders signed two strategic cooperation agreements on the energy issue.
The strategic partnership focused on improving energy security at a reasonable price and reducing pollutant emissions. The UAE announced after the meeting that it is adopting a practical, comprehensive and balanced approach to keep up with the energy transition based on increasing the production capacity of crude oil to five million barrels per day and increasing the production capacity of its global portfolio of renewable energy projects from 23 gigawatts to more than -100 gigawatts by 2030.
On the Palestinian level, Macron participated in a joint press conference with Abu Mazen, whom he invited to visit Paris, and called for the renewal of direct political dialogue between the Palestinians and Israel. Also, Macron promised to revive the efforts to establish peace.
On Friday, it was the turn of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to meet with Macron in France. The discourse, at least according to the Egyptians, was mainly economic when Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, the former Egyptian assistant foreign minister, discussed the historical ties between France and Egypt: “France is one of the largest European countries with which Egypt had ties. France actually helped build the Egyptian civil law, based on The so-called Napoleonic Code”.
On a practical level, Baiomi spoke about the French tourists, who have always been a market segment that contributes a lot to the Egyptian tourism economy and said that “the French have always been fascinated by ancient Egypt, and talked about the attractiveness of Egypt in terms of tourism and economic cooperation. France is one of the largest countries from which tourists come to us.” He noted that France contributed to the implementation of the subway in Egypt, and to several electricity and telecommunications projects.
Last Saturday, Macron spoke with Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi, with the focus of the conversation being the nuclear agreement. The French Presidency noted that Macron assured Raisi that the revival of the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program signed in 2015 is still possible – provided that it takes place as soon as possible. The Iranian president, for his part, condemned the “unconstructive” actions and attitudes of the United States and European countries regarding the nuclear file.