Under the ovation negotiators gathered in the plenary conference hall Bourget just before the adoption of the agreement at COP 21, Laurent Fabius was tied throat and tears in his eyes. “Yes, I was very moved. The word “historic” is often overused, but in this case is justified: the Paris Conference made history, “ was recognized soon after, in an interview with Journal du Dimanche, the head of French diplomacy, which will remain throughout this year President of the COP. His political opponents have always accused him of arrogance grand bourgeois past by the best schools of the Republic – which Normale Supérieure and ENA – and even his excessive coldness. But this afternoon of Saturday, December 12, 2015, the armor was cracked, especially since it already knows to be called to other duties, as President of the Constitutional Council.
the mutation is official since Wednesday. Converted rather late to the ecological emergency, he was deeply involved with Laurence Tubiana, “Ambassador for Climate”, mobilizing the entire French diplomatic machine for the preparation of this conference 195 countries. It was a challenge. It was a triumph.
Revenge. Where the emotion of this politician who did not hide on his arrival at Quai d ‘ Orsay, “wanting to make his mark at the head of French diplomacy.” He had to abandon his presidential ambitions. He felt that he would probably never have to Matignon, who was once under François Mitterrand, “the youngest Prime Minister of France.” “At the time of Brezhnev and Reagan, “ snickered his enemies within the Socialist Party, anxious to see the levers of French diplomacy pass human hands ‘no’ in the 2005 referendum on the European constitutional Treaty. François Hollande nevertheless persisted in his choice, especially as European issues, in a crisis of the euro, were managed primarily by the Elysee and Bercy. “Laurent Fabius was a foreign minister who chose his records: COP 21, Iran, Syria,” summarizes Camille Grand, the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS) recalling its priority of “economic diplomacy” with the Quai d’Orsay reform and direct ownership by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Tourism. A cultural revolution. “An ambassador is now judged on its engagement on economic issues, and not be available for a large enough shift pattern is even more serious as neglecting an undersecretary of state,” says a diplomat. French foreign policy is traditionally fairly consensual, both left and right. For the first time in his long political career, Fabius succeeds in being loved. In December, he even appears in the top three favorite political figures of the French, with Alain Juppé and François Bayrou. But already, for many years, it was high in the opinion polls. Popularity to the taste of revenge for a political leader whose image has long tarnished by the tainted blood, even though he had reacted very quickly at the time.
Still, its debut at the Quai d’Orsay’s head were laborious. There was awaited with enthusiasm as “Alain Juppé left” traumatized by an administration – before the return of the mayor of Bordeaux in the last year of the presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy – by a long line of ministers, a colorless, the other frankly incompetent, either still at least atypical, as was Bernard Kouchner.
by his own admission, Laurent Fabius was unfamiliar with this ministry. Relations with his first chief of staff, Denis Pietton, highly respected diplomat who died recently left, quickly become execrable. Just installed, the Minister waltzed heads, both in Paris and in major stations. The current also goes wrong with many of his subordinates, who deem “brittle”. Many are scared, especially since the minister did not hesitate to humiliate, sometimes publicly, employees. But gradually, he finds his marks. Alexandre Ziegler, normalien technocrat like him, became his chief of staff. Laurent Fabius then starts printing its own brand.
World “nonpolar”. “It was not easy for him, even if relations with François Hollande, who considered it fair, were good because over the years the head of state has a passion for foreign policy “ notes a former diplomat. On Europe, the minister is in fact out of play and not even try to make up the numbers, even though it shows its close proximity with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier. With the exception of Bernard Cazeneuve, who briefly held the position before emergency move to budget to replace Jerome Cahuzac, his Secretaries of State for European Affairs were non-existent, as are their counterparts in charge of the portfolios of Cooperation and Francophonie. On African issues, which take precedence over the military and security aspects, the Minister of Defence, Jean-Yves Le Drian is on the front of the stage, especially as it is very close to a François Hollande who, intervention in Mali to the Central African Republic, arises more readily chief war.
Laurent Fabius is aware of the “new geography of power” what also encourages redeploy embassies and strengthen the French presence among emerging. He readily evokes a world “nonpolar” or “Polar zero” that would have succeeded in the world “bipolar” of the Cold War and “unipolar” with the American superpower of According to the Wall. A confusing situation of “vacancy of global power” marked by an increasing withdrawal of the United States, including the Middle East, which enables France, average power, “weigh more what is to be inferred from his own resources “ ” France is a diplomatic power that holds its own and a majority of French. – left and right – perceive and they sometimes take pride, the least satisfaction. In a difficult international context and dangerous, one can imagine more damning, “ he wrote in Libération in June 2015.
On his favorite subjects, his management was quite a success. It is undeniable about the COP 21 as the Iranian nuclear issue. “It was solid, present, and he did not hesitate in November 2013 to take the risk of blocking the negotiations to avoid a bad deal,” highlights Camille Grand, the SRF. The firmness shown then increased the credit of French diplomacy in much of a Sunni Middle East – including Saudi Arabia – worried both Tehran’s nuclear ambitions and the growing disengagement of Barack Obama. But the French position has not been provided weakened Iran once the agreement finally validated on 14 July.
Door to false . more problematic is the Syrian balance sheet, even if Laurent Fabius is a continuation of the policy of his predecessor, Alain Juppe, in the enthusiasm of the beginning of the Arab spring. Paris therefore continue after the victory of François Hollande, to support fully the democratic rebellion with the idea that Assad would be quickly swept away by the people. Laurent Fabius has very heavy words to denounce a “man should have no place on Earth.” A view shared then by Britain and the United States, at least until ‘the evasion of Barack Obama, who resigned in August 2013 to launch strikes against the Damascus regime, guilty of using chemical weapons against his own people, that the US president had announced that “a red line. “ Thus, Paris has reached the cantilever on Syria. “A morally right policy but running behind events while the opposition is collapsing and that Bashar remain in power, with the military support of Russia comeback,” Note Camille Grand . Before leaving the dock, Laurent Fabius, one last time, denounced “complicity” Moscow and Tehran and Damascus “ambiguities” Washington. A tense diplomacy.
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