The President of the Republic should discuss several subjects during a lunch with Mohammed ben Salmane, including the war in Ukraine, Iran or the Lebanese crisis.
By LL with AFP
© BANDAR AL-JALOUD / Saudi Royal Palace / AFP
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VS’is a one-to-one lunch with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who is expecting Emmanuel Macron. The president meets this Friday with Mohammed ben Salmane at the Elysée Palace where a number of subjects should be discussed: from the war in Ukraine to Iran via the Lebanese crisis and Syria.
The presidency underlined that the objective was to “provide bilateral perspectives and study the major issues, whether they are regional or whether it concerns Ukraine”.
This is the second visit in a year of “MBS”, nickname of the de facto leader of the rich oil kingdom, after that in July 2022 which had aroused the indignation of human rights defenders as well as the French left.
It was then MBS’s first visit to Paris since the 2018 assassination in Turkey of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, attributed to the crown prince in particular by American intelligence and which earned him a sulphurous reputation in the West.
Emmanuel Macron will address Ukraine as a priority. France is trying to convince emerging countries to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The president will stress “how important the Ukraine issue is” and has implications all over the world and “how Saudi Arabia can exert influence including on Russia”, the presidency said.
Return to the Middle Eastern scene
“The meeting is important for both sides in a changing international and Middle Eastern context,” said Ziad Majed, professor at the American University of Paris.
France, “the only Western actor that maintains ties with Iran while being an ally of the Gulf monarchies”, has been trying “for a while” to return to the Middle Eastern scene, he explained to the AFP.
MBS has clearly positioned himself as one who supports regional order and regional stability, even if this “stability” goes through “the stifling of protest”, adds the professor.
Evidenced by the fate of seven young Saudis, sentenced to death for “so-called crimes” committed when they were minors, according to Amnesty International. The youngest was, according to the NGO, 12 years old at the time of the events.
Emmanuel Macron, “the main architect of the relegitimization of the Saudi prince since 2018”, who “reinforces his feeling of impunity”, “should do everything” to “save the lives” of the seven young people sentenced to death “for their opinion” , believes the secretary general of Amnesty France Agnès Callamard.
“Engage in conversation with the Iranians”
Jean-Yves Le Drian, Emmanuel Macron’s new special envoy for Lebanon, will not be present at lunch, but the situation in the country of Cedars will be discussed after the Lebanese Parliament’s new failure on Wednesday to elect a president.
Riyadh retains major influence in Lebanon, as does Iran. “The question is not so much normalization as the demonstration that Arabia and Iran can make together of the effectiveness of this normalization on certain subjects” such as Lebanon, one explains at the Élysée. .
Emmanuel Macron will thus push the Saudis “to engage in conversation with the Iranians and with others to create favorable conditions for the election of a Lebanese president”.
Saudi Arabia is also the country which, with the other Gulf monarchies, can financially support Lebanon plunged into a historic crisis while the Europeans are focused on Ukraine.
Another hot topic is Iran. “We would like to have the Crown Prince’s assessment of the intensity of the Iranian threat […] and how he intends to deal with the Iranians”, explains the presidency.
Ahmed Benchemsi, director of Middle East communication for the NGO Human Rights Watch, deplores the holding of this visit. “I find it regrettable to shake hands with a leader whose responsibility for the barbaric assassination of a journalist has been demonstrated, acting as if nothing had happened,” he also said.
MBS plans to stay for a long time in France where he owns several mansions, including a sumptuous castle in Louveciennes, near Paris. In addition to the meeting with Emmanuel Macron, he will attend the official reception on Monday to present his country’s candidacy for the 2030 World Expo, which is supported by Paris. He will also participate on June 22 and 23 in the summit for a new global financial pact organized by the Élysée.