The EconomistAugust 31st 2019 291A
t the startof this year, a fretful Em-
manuel Macron grounded his presi-
dential plane and cleared his diary in order
to focus on civil disorder at home. For two
months, as he tried to defuse the gilets
jaunes(yellow jackets) protests, the French
president left Europe only once, shunned
global gatherings and ceded the stage to
Angela Merkel. Mr Macron’s hopes of step-
ping into the German chancellor’s shoes as
Europe’s leader looked then to be over.
Six months later, the turnaround is star-
tling. For three days starting on August
24th Mr Macron presided over the g7 sum-
mit in the seaside resort of Biarritz, an
event many expected to be wrecked by con-
flict and theatrics. Instead, the French host
managed to avert disaster, keep America’s
Donald Trump happy, ease trans-Atlantic
tensions over a French tech tax and win a
pledge from Mr Trump to talk to Iran’s Pres-
ident Hassan Rouhani. He also mobilised a
bit of aid for fires in the Amazon, though
that fell through in a spat with Jair Bolso-
naro, Brazil’s president. Mr Trump declared
the summit to be “truly successful”,
claimed that “nobody wanted to leave” and
called Mr Macron a “spectacular leader”.
The most tantalising outcome was Mr
Macron’s announcement that a meeting
between the American and Iranian presi-
dents could take place in the “coming
weeks”. French diplomats have been work-
ing for months on ways to ease tensions
with Iran and preserve the principles of the
nuclear deal that America signed in 2015,
before Mr Trump withdrew and hit Iran
with sanctions. On August 25th Mr Macron
pulled off what looked suspiciously like a
stunt when he invited Muhammad Javad
Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, to Biarritz for
bilateral meetings. Yet a day later, there was
Mr Trump, standing beside the Frenchpresident, acknowledging that “if the cir-
cumstances were right” he would “certain-
ly agree” to a meeting with Mr Rouhani.
In the end, nothing came of it. Iran said
it wanted sanctions lifted first. And Mr
Macron has learned the hard way that ef-
forts to charm and cajole Mr Trump into
better behaviour are usually in vain. Last
year the American president withdrew
from the Iran nuclear deal shortly after Mr
Macron visited Washington, hoping to per-
suade him otherwise.
Indeed Mr Macron’s broader diplomatic
policy of dialogue with all carries evident
risks. His parallel efforts with Russia’s
Vladimir Putin, whom he invited to the
presidential fort on the Mediterranean
shortly before the g7 summit, have so far
yielded little. The French president has
long argued that such leaders are more
dangerous when isolated, and is trying in-
stead to mix firmness and flattery. In a
speech in Paris on August 27th he called it a
“strategic error” for Europe to shun Russia,
as that pushes it towards China. In the
short run Mr Macron hopes to revive peace
talks between Russia and Ukraine, super-
vised by France and Germany. In the long
run, he told reporters before the g7 sum-
mit, he thinks that a better-behaved Russia
should be allowed back into the g8.
Ultimately, France remains a mid-sized
power, albeit one with a nuclear deterrent.
So Mr Macron’s diplomatic space to pursue
all these ambitions is limited. This is why
the French president spends so much timeFrench diplomacy
Back on the scene
PARIS
Emmanuel Macron reclaims France’s international role
Europe
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