“We will have to do a certain balancing act,” says specialist Anne Gadel

“We will have to do a certain balancing act” in Saudi Arabia for Emmanuel Macron, estimates Saturday, December 4 Anne Gadel, member of the Observatory of North Africa and the Middle East of the Jean-Jaurès Foundation. Emmanuel Macron is due to meet Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman, three years after the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In this case, journalists, United Nations bodies, as well as the CIA, implicated the crown prince and strongman of Saudi Arabia Mohammed ben Salman, who denies it.

franceinfo: In this context around the question of human rights, how will the meeting between the two heads of state take place?

Anne Gadel: This meeting will take place in an atmosphere of tension. We will have to do a certain balancing act. If we decide to go to Saudi Arabia, if we meet Mohammed ben salman, we expose ourselves to criticism. At the same time, there are a number of regional issues. I am thinking mainly of Lebanon, but there is the issue of Iranian nuclear power that needs to be discussed. The choice to come to Saudi Arabia, to meet Mohammed ben salman and de facto to offer him a kind of international rehabilitation, that leads to a rather delicate balancing act. Very clearly, we can see that France’s foreign policy is largely determined by its commercial policy, in particular sales of armaments. These countries are our main customers. We can speak of pragmatism, of realism. France and Emmanuel Macron, particularly at this time, are seeking to interfere in some breaches that may be opened in the region

What role can Saudi Arabia play around Lebanon and the Iranian nuclear industry?

Saudi Arabia is inescapable in the Lebanese dossier. It cut diplomatic relations with Lebanon. It was somewhat the culmination of a constant deterioration in relations between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. In terms of Hezbollah, which is really gaining power over Lebanese political life, this is seriously starting to tire, even annoy the Saudis, who felt that they could not count on the Sunnis to stem this situation. The question of Hezbollah is naturally linked to the question of Iran’s regional activity, among others in Yemen. The culmination of all this are the negotiations that took place this week in Vienna regarding the return or not of the United States to the Iran nuclear deal. Emmanuel Macron had a rather important role of shuttle, in fact, to relay a little the requests and the grievances of the regional powers of the Gulf.