by Elizabeth Pineau and John Irish
PARIS (Reuters) – Emmanuel Macron hosted Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Paris for a working dinner on Thursday evening, as Western leaders seek to ease their ties with the oil-producing kingdom amid war in Ukraine.
On the forecourt of the Elysée, the French president, returning from a tour of Africa, shook hands for a long time with the man nicknamed “MBS”, who arrived in Paris after a first European stopover in Greece.
In December in Jeddah, Emmanuel Macron was the first Western leader to meet the Saudi prince since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018 in which Riyadh is suspected of having played a role, which the Saudi authorities deny.
Thursday’s visit drew criticism from human rights groups and the French opposition.
“We do not need to rehabilitate a murderous prince, we above all need to use the language of human rights”, declared on France Inter the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard.
“On the dinner menu between @EmmanuelMacron and #MBS the dismembered body of journalist Khashoggi? Climate chaos? Peace and human rights? Overshoot day? No! Oil and weapons! The exact opposite of what we have to do!”, wrote MEP Yannick Jadot, former environmental candidate in the presidential election, on Twitter.
The Elysée has announced that Emmanuel Macron will discuss the issue of human rights with his host. “He will address it in general terms but he will also take the opportunity to address individual cases,” it added.
For their part, the non-governmental organizations Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and Trial International have filed a complaint with the French courts against Mohammed bin Salman for complicity in torture and enforced disappearance, in connection to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.
TWO WEEKS AFTER BIDEN’S VISIT
As the energy and food crisis grows ever more acute, Western leaders are approaching regional powers to counter Russian influence despite human rights concerns.
Emmanuel Macron has spoken in recent days in Paris with the President of the United Arab Emirates Mohammed ben Zayed Al Nahyan then with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi, without meeting with the press.
European countries are seeking to diversify their energy sources after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine cut its gas supplies to Europe.
“The question of supplies and the expectations of Europeans and French people in terms of energy will be addressed,” said the Elysée. “It’s a global issue. The president takes his full part in the steps that are taken.”
Westerners want to convince Riyadh to open the floodgates of oil, of which the kingdom is one of the main producers, in order to lower prices.
So far, the Saudi leader has refused to increase production to meet his commitment to OPEC, repeating that his country was at maximum capacity with little room for improvement.
Another subject on the dinner menu: the Iranian nuclear issue, at a time when talks between the great powers and Iran to relaunch the 2015 agreement have stalled. Saudi Arabia, Iran’s arch-rival, fears Tehran will become a nuclear power and is increasingly worried about its activities in the region.
There is still time to find an Iranian nuclear deal, but the ball is in Iran’s court, it was said on this point in Emmanuel Macron’s entourage.
The Elysée meeting marks a new stage in the return of Mohammed bin Salman to the international scene, less than two weeks after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia.
The prince’s mini-European tour aims to “discuss bilateral relations and ways to strengthen them in different areas,” Saudi officials said when announcing the trip.
(Report Elizabeth Pineau and John Irish, edited by Sophie Louet, Jean-Michel Bélot and Jean Terzian)