The refusal of French President Emmanuel Macron to endorse the formula of “non-interference, non-indifference” during his whirlwind trip to the country disappoints the leader of the Bloc Québécois, Yves-François Blanchet, according to whom a large section of the political class French is more due to the privileged relationship that France maintains with Quebec.
“Mr. Macron does not express the sympathy for Quebec that many of his predecessors had,” says the sovereignist leader in Ottawa, bitter at having been excluded from the official visit of the French president, who is finished on Thursday.
He finds that Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, was “petty” not to invite him for the protocol visit. This “worst ambassador that one could imagine to share the reality of Quebec” would have, he argues, suggested to the French delegation a position on the national question of Quebec which deviates from the traditional formula of neutrality used by the most French heads of state before him.
“I have nothing against Mr. Macron, and I obviously don’t get involved in French politics, but if I were given the opportunity, I would give him a different presentation of what Quebec is,” adds Yves -François Blanchet, during a call with Duty.
On Thursday, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, categorically refused “out of respect” to say whether he still held to the diplomatic position of “non-interference, non-indifference” regarding Quebec’s place in the Canadian federation . “I’m not here to teach Canadians lessons. […] I am there as a respectful friend who loves each of its components,” he declared in an interview with Radio-Canada.
Break with tradition
Pressed by journalist Louis Blouin, the president insisted that his role was not to “add complexity or emotion” to political debates on this side of the Atlantic. “In a political context that will not have escaped anyone, I do not want to interfere in your national political context. »
This evasive response led Yves-François Blanchet to say that Mr. Macron is indeed departing from France’s traditional position, which according to him consists of “taking care of its two friendships”. He recalls that President Macron had already missed the opportunity to make a speech to the National Assembly during a previous trip, in 2018. This week, Mr. Macron passed through Ottawa and Montreal, but did not returned to the Old Capital.
“I don’t know who will be the next president, or the next president, of the Republic. But I know that in general, support not for independence, but for Quebec’s right to self-determination, is quite consensual in French politics,” says Mr. Blanchet.
As recently as last April, Emmanuel Macron’s former prime minister, Gabriel Attal, assured that France still adhered to the principle nicknamed “neither-nor”, invented by former prime minister Alain Peyrefitte in 1977 to express a bias favorable to Quebec while maintaining its relationship with the federal government. “I find myself there quite well, of course,” declared the head of the French government in the presence of Justin Trudeau. Since then, elections have been held in France and Gabriel Attal has been replaced by Michel Barnier as prime minister.
Nicolas Sarkozy is the only French president of the last fifty years to have categorically distanced himself from the “neither-nor” formula, justifying himself by saying that it was “not too [s]we thing.”
“Neither-nor”, still relevant?
The principle of “non-interference, non-indifference” from France was a centerpiece of the strategy of the yes camp during the referendum in 1995, which counted on this influential country to recognize a sovereign Quebec in the event of victory, explains the constitutionalist Patrick Taillon.
“If France said, on the eve of the next referendum [sur la souveraineté du Québec] that there is no more “neither-nor”, that Quebec cannot count on its support, it is certain that this removes a card in the game of the separatists”, analyzes the professor at the Faculty of Law from Laval University. In the absence of international recognition, Catalonia, for example, never became an independent country from Spain following its 2017 referendum.
However, the Quebec sovereignists of the 21ste century have other cards in their game since the Supreme Court’s referral on the secession of Quebec in 1998, adds Patrick Taillon. Canada’s highest court then gave Quebec the right to leave the federation under certain conditions, regardless of its support abroad.
Justin Trudeau will once again have the opportunity to shake hands with the French president next weekend, during the Francophonie Summit in Paris. The leader of the Bloc Québécois will not go there, having had to change his plans given the instability of the minority government in Ottawa and the risk of new federal elections in October.