Laurent Fabius he was a good foreign minister? – Challenges.fr

He goes. After almost four years at the Quai d’Orsay, Laurent Fabius will leave in the coming hours the Foreign Ministry before to head the Constitutional Council. He will replace Jean-Louis Debre, whose nine-year term will end in a month. With the departure of the Quai d’Orsay to rue de Montpensier, who was already mentioned from several months sounds the day of reckoning. Laurent Fabius he was a good chief diplomat

Its great success: the COP21 and economic diplomacy

Among his successes, should be mentioned first the COP21. The success of the big climate conference in Paris was far from won. And the head of the French diplomacy was also President of the COP has given himself. The preparation of the event, the organization, but mostly trading method have been welcomed by all observers. “ All delegations say that the French Presidency is spectacular and no previous summits were as well organized”, had even launched rave US Secretary of State, John Kerry, a few days before the agreement . “Laurent Fabius has managed to orchestrate a global mobilization on this issue, says a veteran of the Quai d’Orsay. He also favored a very effective method, made of many informal meetings and teaching. One can speak of a true victory for French diplomacy. ” Laurent Fabius, to tears during the presentation of the agreement on December 12, will also president of the COP22 COP21 to be held in Marrakech November

Another success of Laurent Fabius. economic diplomacy. From 2012, he has made a priority by creating within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs a “corporate management and the international economy” of 75 people. Then in April 2014, the Quai d’Orsay boss took advantage of a government reshuffle to get the portfolios of tourism and foreign trade, the latter falling since the beginning of the Fifth Republic of the exclusive competence of Bercy. The ambassadors of the Third World Network diplomatic becoming somehow VRP of French companies. “Economic diplomacy is a true innovation, France came close to what the British and the Germans,” Judge a predecessor Laurent Fabius at the Quai d’Orsay. “He made us switch to diplomacy in the Anglo-Saxon, a little less right-of-the rightist, more pragmatic” supports a diplomat. Pascal Boniface, Director of the Institute of International and Strategic Relations (IRIS) abounds. “Economic diplomacy is a great success. It is a logical evolution of things because the ambassadors are well placed to fulfill this economic mission. He also managed to reform the Foreign Ministry, to modernize and to the feminize “. Guy Maurice, Africa director of Total, stated about it in October in Challenges : “We are feeling the effects of these efforts two years ago with a big investment ambassadors to put us in touch with decision-makers” .

A very tough stance towards Tehran

the Iranian issue is to side with the successes of Laurent Fabius. Yet it was not won, the Quai d’Orsay boss taking a very tough stance towards Iran in the nuclear talks. E n November 2013, he even refused to support a text submitted by the United States and Iran, regarded as not quite “demanding”, which was delayed two weeks the conclusion of the Interim Agreement . This radical position does not appear to have had any impact on the Franco-Iranian relationship, after the recent visit of Hassan Rouhani in Paris which resulted in the signing of several major contracts. “His intransigence has achieved the best possible deal” comments about that one diplomat.

It is also important to acknowledge the “restart” of the Franco-African relationship, again became a priority for the tricolor diplomacy. This has notably worked with the approximation Anglophone and Lusophone Africa, the most prosperous of the continent. “Since 2012, we support a rebalancing targeting Angola, Ethiopia or Nigeria, whose GDP is higher than that of sub-Saharan Francophone Africa,” said Marc Bouteiller, number two in the direction of the Quai Africa Orsay.

As for the Ukrainian folder, you can not really attribute the progress to Laurent Fabius. If the Minsk agreements signed in February 2015 helped to bring about a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine, it is especially Angela Merkel and François Hollande who were maneuvering.

the main failure: the Middle East

the evolution of the Syrian conflict to this day remains the major failure of French diplomacy. Laurent Fabius was immediately set for the departure of Bashar al-Assad. “ He is betting the rapid fall of the Syrian president and underestimated his ability to stay in power,” said Pascal Boniface. And the head of French diplomacy has especially made a 180 degree turn after the attacks of 13 November envisaging to associate the Syrian army to French strikes before and to back-pedal up behind the official position of “neither Bashar nor Daech”. A hazardous output that had angered Hollande. Laurent Fabius had also been very hostile to hit the Islamic state in Syria by November 13. “It’s a changing file complex, but it is true that his choices were not always the most effective concedes a diplomat. But as regards the case of Bashar Assad, it has mostly been the about American-face (the US was about to intervene in Syria in summer 2013 after a chemical attack in Damascus suburbs before suddenly turning back, Editor’s note). ” Regarding the Syrian conflict, Laurent Fabius has also accused Russia on Wednesday and Iran of being complicit in “frightening brutality” of the Syrian regime.

the reconciliation between France and Saudi Arabia also puzzling to many observers. “France appears to be closely linked to Saudi Arabia, it is a risk, it would be better to rebalance our relations in the Middle East” indicates a predecessor Laurent Fabius at the Quai d’Orsay. The book “Deadly Sins: 7 dead ends of French diplomacy” , a firebrand just published by the Club of Twenty, which brings together several diplomats critical about that French foreign policy. This book written by Former Ambassador Francis Gutmann says the close relations between Paris and Riyadh may send the signal that France “take sides between Sunnis and Shiites “. He added: “ The French policy in the Middle East lacks both goals, visibility and results.” Pascal Boniface who notes that foreign policy in the Middle East under Laurent Fabius has been marked by “a very strong rapprochement with the Saudis and Egyptians” advanced her lack of “ global discourse of France in the world” and “low activism on certain principles such as the condemnation of the repression of Marshal al- Sissi “.

in the end, how to qualify the results of Laurent Fabius? “It is generally good, answers Pascal Boniface Before it was said that there had been in recent history only two good foreign ministers.. Hubert Védrine and Alain Juppé We can now say that there was three. “