A few months late, the annual meeting of French diplomacy will finally take place. From Monday January 6, French ambassadors stationed around the world will meet in Paris for their traditional conference in the presence of the President of the Republic and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot. Initially scheduled for the end of August, the 2024 edition of this great event could not be held due to the hosting of the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Scheduled for Monday morning, Emmanuel Macron's speech to the ambassadors should outline a certain number of major directions, in an international context saturated by the imminent return of Donald Trump to the White House, but also by the piling up of burning issues for French diplomacy in Europe, the Middle East and Syria. Guest of honor at this 30th edition, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski, whose country has just taken over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, recalls through his presence the urgency for Europeans to define a common position on the war in Ukraine.
“A little side of corporate brainstorming”
Set up in 1994 by Alain Juppé, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, this meeting aims to “a moment where ambassadors can share their analyses, provide feedback and discuss the challenges they each encounter”explains Marie Dumoulin, ex-diplomat and director of the “Wider Europe” program of the European Council on International Relations. “There is a little side of corporate brainstorming”, smiles Michel Duclos, former ambassador to Syria and special advisor at the Montaigne Institute. “And the president's traditional speech serves as a mission letter to ambassadors, and a framework for the general public. »
“One difficulty, when you are an ambassador, is to represent France's line on themes and regions different from those we follow on a day-to-day basis, agrees Jean de Gliniasty, former ambassador to Brazil and Russia. The conference greatly facilitates the lives of ambassadors by offering them a sort of all-terrain means to defend the government's positions. »
The cancellation of the 2024 edition due to the Olympics was the subject of various assessments, with some observers seeing it as confirmation of a strained relationship with the Élysée. “It is regrettable and significant,” Gérard Araud, former ambassador to the United States, then tweeted.
The relationship between Emmanuel Macron and diplomats has been marred by moments of tension. In his speech to ambassadors in 2019, following a short-lived initiative by the head of state to renew ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron targeted some of the diplomats by accusing them of acting like a “Deep State” – term with varied meanings, designating at best a recalcitrant bureaucracy, at worst an occult network. Two years later, the announcement of the abolition of the diplomatic corps, an administrative status governing the careers of diplomats, once again provoked anger and incomprehension at the Quai d'Orsay.
“A reduction in France’s voice abroad”
Organized several months after the planned date, this 30th ambassadors' conference therefore has the appearance of a catch-up session. “Nothing has filtered through on the themes, it was a bit done at the last moment, comments a regular. Emmanuel Macron is a little on the defensive in the face of the discontent of diplomats who consider that they are not heard and listened to enough, and deplore a reduction in France's voice abroad since the dissolution. »
Other interlocutors joined by The Cross are, however, more understanding, noting in retrospect that the absence of government would have made the holding of the conference at the end of August somewhat uncertain.
