France has decided to review the composition of its diplomatic corps. Unfortunately, this reform is not accompanied by a reflection on the reasons why the voice of Paris is less and less audible, particularly in Africa.
© ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP
The French Embassy in Abidjan.
Liberal democracy is declining in the world, and the return from the East of tragedy in Europe evades the French democratic debate. It also has the regrettable effect of limiting the confrontation of ideas that the presidential election is nevertheless intended to encourage.
In a world where the international order is disrupted and where Western hegemony seems outdatedthe future of our French diplomacy deserved a real debate.
And this, especially since a so-called reform of the senior management of the senior civil service will lead to the abolition, in France, from January 2023, of two diplomatic corps, in favor of a single interministerial body, that of state administrators: in embassies, with the notable exception of our ambassadors, there will therefore no longer be professional diplomats. For the best or for the worst.
change your tone
How, in these circumstances, will French foreign action be organized in the coming years? This is a major discussion that we will not have. Its importance is however proven, in particular for the French of the foreigner, of which sometimes 80% abstain from taking part in the electoral ballots.
I am thinking in particular of the African continent, which is talked regarding a lot during the campaign, sometimes with condescension, often through the prism of migratory or military news, and even though all the candidates also agree in recognizing that Europe and Africa have linked destinies.
During the vote in the United Nations General Assembly condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine, countries on the continent such as South Africa, Senegal and Algeria abstainedas indeed China and India, when the Morocco and Ethiopia simply did not take part in the ballot. And then there are the countries that we prefer not to list, but which voted for the resolution reluctantly, yielding to pressure that sometimes came from France.
To read Russia-Ukraine: the reasons for the abstention of many African countries at the UN
We must adapt our external action to the new challenges of the times, starting by changing the tone with our partners. Between the first universal suffrage in France, on August 11, 1792, and the first women’s vote, on April 19, 1945, more than one hundred and fifty years passed: who do we want to give lessons to?
Changing your tone also means stopping bombastic speeches. The refrain of humanist clichés to which we have been accustomed during the last five years can make a speech pleasant. However, it does not constitute an effective form of our politico-diplomatic action.
France’s cultural action is weakened. His imagination is dated
Face au anti-French resentment on the one hand, which is growing in Africa for reasons that can only be due to the manipulation of our rivals, and on the other hand to the major efforts being made on the continent by powerful opponents of liberal democracy, notably China, Russia and Turkey, what means does France wish to give itself to fulfill its destiny as a balancing power?
To read Burkina Faso: anti-French boos and Russian messiah
The efforts made to soothe the pains of memory, for example in Rwanda, are to be welcomed and contribute to the necessary effort to adapt. They nevertheless remain insufficient, when we see countries like the Central African Republic, Mali or, for different reasons, Gabon turning away from France.
To read Central African Republic-Russia: who is Vitali Perfilev, Wagner’s boss in Bangui?
On the other hand, they are more productive in countries without a French colonial legacy, for example in Ghana, Angola, or Egypt.
But the cultural action of France is weakened. His imagination is dated. The vision of our diplomats is sometimes strabismic or outdated. The sovereignty of our partners is not always respected. In short, France no longer makes people dream.
And she no longer has to dream. We don’t need more France. It needs better.
weaving new threads
In Africa and the Levant, “parliamentary diplomacy” must be rehabilitated from this point of view. Let’s be clear: it is not for our deputies or senators to supplement French diplomacy. The expression, whose convenience must be recognized, should rather refer to the role that parliamentarians can play in weaving the new threads of the relationship between our African partners on the one hand, and France, Germany and Italy on the other hand, this in addition to our respective diplomatic actions.
This conception of parliamentary diplomacy presupposes relying on truly representative elected officials, capable of enriching the analysis of sovereign diplomacy, in particular because of their territorial and socio-cultural roots. They would do so with the freedom of tone and discretion that universal suffrage confers.
To read Rwanda: in Kigali, Emmanuel Macron attempts a high-risk reconciliation
This is how compromises can be built, balances preserved, reciprocal opportunities seized, including in economic matters, for example in the energy, health and education sectors.
In this new enterprise, the French established outside France must be at the center of our attention, otherwise our external action in Africa will experience its twilight.