At the UN, Emmanuel Macron tries to make France’s voice heard

The UN General Assembly is being held in New York until Friday. The opportunity for the President of the Republic to plead for de-escalation of the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

A crucial day at the UN General Assembly, Wednesday, September 25, the day after the call by the American president, Joe Biden, to avoid a “generalized war”. Israel is stepping up strikes on Lebanon, officially targeting Hezbollah targets. The Islamist movement has announced the death of one of its commanders. Emmanuel Macron met last night with the new Iranian president Massoud Pezeshkian before a meeting of the Security Council at the request of France and the president’s speech at the United Nations.

In the United States, Emmanuel Macron’s influence seems to be in sharp decline. The French president, who is undergoing a real test at the UN, is acting as if he wanted to play the mediator and is calling for a general de-escalation. On Wednesday, this is his only – and perhaps his last – means of action. He is therefore urging Iran to use its influence in the region. “to move forward” on the path to a ceasefire, with no guarantee of obtaining any change.

Facing him: the new Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, with whom the head of state has already spoken twice this summer. A one-on-one meeting confirmed at the last minute, arranged in secret behind the scenes, because a few hours earlier, the new Iranian President promised – with a touch of provocation – not to leave his ally, Hezbollah, alone against Israel’s strikes.

De-escalation, protection of civilians, support for populations will be obvious common threads for Emmanuel Macron’s speech at the United Nations podium, something he has not done for two years. The Élysée, laconically, believes that the “situation has worsened”. Emmanuel Macron will return to his hobbyhorses: refusal of a world that is always fragmented, refusal of divisions, the need to enforce international law everywhere, for everyone and all the time. This will be the only intervention of the French President in New York.

Emmanuel Macron, however, refused to comment on the situation in the Middle East in the corridor. “We have always been at Lebanon’s side, you know that, we will continue to be,” he declares, without saying more. The strategy is assumed: to chase away the natural and to be discreet to let the government work in France. Far from the cameras, far from the microphones, to the point of accrediting the idea that its influence would be reduced to next to nothing. “It’s difficult for him, recognizes a friend. He knows he has to make room, before he was all-powerful.”