The official Saudi press agency SPA got the first of the announcement. The Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, is expected this Thursday, July 28 in France for the second leg of his trip to Europe, after a two-day visit to Greece. French Ambassador Ludovic Pouille confirmed on Twitter his “official visit to France”publishing a series of videos on ” highlights “ of the Franco-Saudi relationship, before the Élysée announced a “working dinner”without further details.
On Wednesday, Athens rolled out the red carpet for the 36-year-old leader, who suffered a long diplomatic isolation after the October 2018 assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi that Washington accused him of ordering. A whole series of agreements were on the table, starting with the installation of an electric cable which must connect Greece to the kingdom, to eventually supply Europe “much cheaper energy”selon « MBS ».
New cooperation to sustainably reduce regional tension
Since the war in Ukraine, Western countries have not stopped making eyes at this country, a major supplier of oil, led by a man considered a few months ago as an outcast. After Emmanuel Macron in December, Boris Johnson in March, Joe Biden is the last Western guest to have been received last week in Jeddah in particular to try to get a boost from the world’s largest exporter of crude oil and lower prices. But no major breakthrough was achieved, despite a 180° shift in approach to the grievances that hitherto weighed on “MBS” – most egregiously translated in his controversial salute to the young Saudi leader.
If the two diplomatic sequences – Joe Biden in Riyadh and “MBS” in Paris – are not very comparable in terms of format and scope, the arrival of the crown prince in Paris is part of this realism advocated by Westerners from his view. ” This visit represents a continuation in the general warming of Western attitudes towards Saudi Arabia and ‘MBS’ rather than a new element,” said Emma Soubrier, visiting researcher at the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies at George Washington University. In addition to the pressure from oil prices, “the lull in Yemen and more generally the rapprochement between the two shores of the Gulf (Saudi Arabia and Iran, editor’s note) create conditions conducive to the establishment of new cooperation to sustainably reduce regional tension”.
Overcome past hiccups
The French president had in December contributed to rehabilitating the Saudi leader, by signing 19 protocols and agreements for more than 18 billion dollars. “He had already, through this visit, signaled the importance of preserving, even consolidating the bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia beyond past hitches, adds the researcher. And this all the more willingly since he had meant to consider as “pure demagoguery” the proposal to stop selling arms to the country because of the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. Today, the arrival of “MBS” in Paris confirms, and this is perhaps its most significant significance, the will of the leaders of the Gulf to make France a privileged partner with which to compose within the reconfigurations of the international relations emerging in the Middle East. »
Beyond these strategic issues, what will be the place of human rights in this visit? In December, Emmanuel Macron presented himself as a “demanding partner” et “without complacency” in this regard. However, during Joe Biden’s visit, “MBS” hinted that he considered the death of Jamal Khashoggi to be closed. According to Reporters Without Borders, at least 27 journalists and bloggers are detained in the kingdom, which is still preventing blogger Raïf Badawi from leaving the country after serving a ten-year prison sentence.