So when Macron took over the six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on January 1, 2022, he turned his sights straight to Africa. The first event organized by the French government in this role was a meeting on identifying the priorities for EU members in their relationship with the African Union ahead of a February summit between the two. During a press conference on January 11, Macron said that he wants Europe to be "stronger in the world" and to "to build a new alliance, to rebuild our European Union-African Union partnership."
While Macron may wax poetic in public about investing in "green infrastructures" and "supporting prosperity and peace" in Africa, one can catch a glimpse of another agenda behind his platitudes.
Macron has long had a dream of greater European integration, of which one of the cornerstones is his dream of a 'European defense'. The notion fits with Macron's vision of Europe that mirrors and extends the position of former French General and President Charles de Gaulle of France as a geopolitical power capable of serving as a broker between the Russian and American geopolitical power poles. And Africa provides the perfect backdrop of conflict and proximity to Europe to serve as a pretext for showcasing this new European army concept.
But, as usual, the devil is in the details. For instance, which other European countries actually have armies that could make a legitimate contribution to a pan-European force or mission? Greece? Italy? Poland? (Forget about Germany, which has been reluctant to go all-in with France to the potential upset of US-led NATO, which provides Berlin with a nuclear umbrella.)
Now cross reference any such candidates with a desire to intervene overseas, particularly in missions with a return on investment that will ultimately pale in comparison to what France would gain when it inevitably muscles out foreign industrial competitors, as military missions under counterterrorist or humanitarian pretext ultimately give way to economic footholds.
It's also doubtful that Italian, Polish, Greek, or other EU nations' citizens would back greater foreign military involvement in the Sahel region of Africa, about which Macron had been pounding the desk, making it clear that it's essentially a French-led mission with window dressing. And therein lies a quintessential paradox of national sovereignty and European sovereignty. Is it even possible to strengthen Europe without weakening its individual member states by forcing them to answer to supranational leadership which may not be fully aligned with national interests?
Further complicating Macron's African ambitions for France and his EU showcase project is the fact that France has made a series of unforced errors on the continent that have resulted in competitors like China, Russia, and the US stealing Paris' lunch.
The latest example was Macron's acceptance of Washington's "help" in Africa as a consolation prize for robbing France in Australia when a multi-billion euro submarine deal was suddenly canceled and awarded to Washington. Come on - every guy knows that if you want to steal your buddy's girl, you ask if you can hang out with them. What does Macron think that Washington's interest really is in asking to hang out with Paris on missions in Africa? The French cooking?
There's also the fact that the old strategy of spearheading interventions in Africa with a military or national security impetus - dialing up conflicts or backing coups - while hoping for a transition to an eventual economic return and industrialization is no longer a viable model for success, if only because the public is onto the con. It has since been replaced by another model that starts with a foreign economic footprint which then provides an opening for private security personnel to engage in the foreign nation in order to protect the private investments.
The optics of the big army intervention in the absence of a real justification supported by public opinion is no longer a best practice. For example, when the CEO of the French multinational oil and gas company Total Energies, Patrick Pouyanne, begged European countries to come to the aid of Mozambique in its fight against Daesh in 2020, his request fell on deaf ears. Islamist insurgency had been hindering the company's natural gas project development, ultimately delaying it until at least 2026.
When the largest of European industrial giants have to fend for themselves in Africa despite cries for help to their home countries because the optics are politically problematic, it's no wonder that other nation state competitors are opting for lower profile security options with smaller footprints that allow for greater plausible deniability than large formal deployments.
And it's onto this landscape that Macron is hoping to graft his European force as the new window dressing for his planned projection of European economic, military, and political power. Unfortunately, Macron is viewing the current battlefield through a dodgy viewfinder warped a bit too much by ideological and political will.
About the Author:
Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist and host of an independently produced French-language program that airs on Sputnik France. Her website can be found at rachelmarsden.com
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TPTB infights, I suppose.
VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 15 JANUARY 2022
On 10 January 2022, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided to close land and air borders between member-countries and Mali and to freeze assets of the Republic of Mali in ECOWAS Central Banks, as sanctions in response to the announcement by the transitional authorities to postpone the presidential election to the end of 2026.Mali responded by closing its borders to all countries that support the sanctions announced by ECOWAS, with the exception of Guinea. France being one of those countries, the transitional authorities cancelled the military agreements that Mali had with France in the framework of the Barkhane Operation.Consequently, on 11 January 2022, Mali denounced the violation of its airspace by a French military aircraft flying in from the Ivory Coast, without authorization [1]. Barkhane Operation commander Major General Laurent Michon, who had evidently not been briefed about the political consequences of his own government’s actions, expressed his bewilderment in a letter he sent to the chief of staff of the Malian armed forces [2].The Barkhane Operation had been deployed to fight against jihadist terrorists. However, despite the impressive feats carried out by the French military, jihadism has continued to grow stronger. This catastrophic outcome as compared to the stated objectives is in line with the strategy of the United States, which has decided to double its financial support for the French operation.On 8 October, Malian Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maïga publicly accused France of training the terrorists she claims to be fighting. He then recalled that France had prevented the Malian armed forces from entering the enclave of Kidal, a jihadist stronghold [3]. In short, the Mali transitional government has decided to turn to a Russian private military company, referred to by Western governments and media as the “Wagner Group”.
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has made a dazzling career. At 39, he has already been the assistant of the philosopher Paul Ricoeur, finance inspector, banker, assistant general secretary of the Elysée, economy minister and founder of the "En Marche!" Movement.
In none of these places he has settled down. The longest term of his (less than four years), he exercised it at the private bank Rothschild & Cie in Paris. It is there that he has built up a good fortune and a reputation as a shrewd banker, who will then play tricks on him during the electoral campaign for the French presidential elections. His most famous "hit" is summarized in a few words on Wikipedia and on social networks: "He negotiated the takeover of Pfizer's nutrition subsidiary for Nestlé. This enabled him to become a millionaire."
Before joining Rothschild, the young Macron, who became a finance inspector after the National School of Administration (ENA), was hired in 2007 by economist Jacques Attali in the Commission for the liberation of French growth. The latter had just been created by the elected president, Nicolas Sarkozy, to suggest ways of reform.
The function of Emmanuel Macron: adjunct speaker. He must write the minutes, but also try to reconcile the prestigious members of this commission. Among them, the CEO of Axa (insurance) Claude Bébéar, the general manager of Areva (nuclear) Anne Lauvergeon, as well as Peter Brabeck, then managing director (CEO) of Nestlé.
Meanwhile, the ambitious technocrat has become a banker. And not just any bank: at Rothschild, which in the 1950s employed a future president of the French Republic, Georges Pompidou, and who had close commercial ties with Nicolas Sarkozy, before he reached the Elysée.
Hired as a director, Emmanuel Macron in December 2010 became the youngest managing director of the powerful investment bank. This does not prevent him from being an advisor to the socialist candidate François Hollande when he launches into the presidential campaign.
Macron is not yet known to the general public. Neither in the banking sector, nor in politics. A man in the shadows, for a few more months ... At the beginning of 2012, the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer puts the infant nutrition division up for sale. Nestlé is a candidate, as well as the American group Mead Johnson and the French group Danone. The Swiss group turns to Rothschild & Cie to manage the deal. A small exploit for Macron, as Nestlé had never been a Rothschild customer.
The games are far from over. Opposite is the Lazard bank, a direct competitor of the Rothschild, which advises Danone, the favorite of the race. Macron multiplies the journeys between Paris and Vevey to lavish his advice on Brabeck and his team.
For one million eurosIn April, Danone makes the highest bid. Tension rises on the front of the Nestlé-Rothschild couple. Macron "manages to persuade (Brabeck) to increase its offer, seconds before the start of the board of directors" of Nestlé, says Marc Endeweld. The deal is done, for 11.9 billion dollars. The operation a good million euros to the young banker.
But Macron already has his mind elsewhere. While advising Nestlé, the banker "constantly met the circle of the future president [of the French Republic, Ed.], Providing notes and reflections on the crisis, macroeconomics, banks and more. Until the moment he is called to the Elysée" , writes Martine Orange, author of "Rothschild, a bank in power". At the beginning of May 2012, Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated in the Elysée as Deputy Secretary General, to the new President of the Republic, François Hollande.