Trump factor leaves French prez scrambling ahead of Putin talks
Macron takes on Zuckerberg, net giants
PARIS, May 23, (Agencies): Emmanuel Macron heads to St Petersburg on Thursday seeking to win concessions from Vladimir Putin, but with Europe-US ties strained over Iran, the Russian leader may have little incentive to offer the French president a diplomatic success.
A year after hosting Putin in the regal halls of the Chateau de Versailles, Macron will seek common ground on Syria and Ukraine during a two-day visit and Moscow’s help in salvaging the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by US President Donald Trump.
“The weakness of the transatlantic relationship does not give Macron sufficiently strong positions to counter Putin,” said Tatiana Kastoueva-Jean, director of the Russia centre at the Paris-based Institute for International Relations.
“Putin knows that there are differences in the Western camp and as soon as someone shows weakness he exploits it.”
Macron has banked on nurturing relationships with awkward leaders such as Putin, appearing engaged on the world stage but remaining non-committal and trying to mediate among opposing sides without unsettling anyone.
That policy is now being tested after Trump shunned Macron and other close allies and imposed extraterritorial sanctions on Iran, having already pulled out of the global climate pact and threatened the EU with tariffs on metals. The US move has left Paris, London and Berlin scrambling to rescue the nuclear deal knowing their interests are not necessarily aligned with the two remaining signatories - Russia and China.
Macron hopes to entice all sides into a grand bargain that would tackle Tehran’s nuclear programme and also address fears over its ballistic missile activity and regional influence as a means to bringing the United States back into the fold.
“We must have a frank dialogue with Russia, but also a demanding dialogue,” Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told France Inter radio.
A senior French diplomat was more direct: “A lot needs to be done to convince the Russians because it has interests in the Middle East, especially Syria, and its stance towards the West is aggressive.”
Rather than confronting Putin directly in public, Macron has favoured private dialogue and pushed for a restoration of business and cultural ties despite European Union sanctions on Moscow.
Invited as guest of honour to an economic forum at which French firms including Total, Societe Generale and Sanofi will be present, Macron will on Friday trumpet improved trade ties that have seen French exports steadily recover after a drop in 2015.
But his broad strategy has shown its limits. Over the last year Moscow has not shifted on Syria, where it continues to back President Bashar al-Assad militarily, or in Ukraine, where last week Putin again excluded the restoration of Crimea, annexed in 2014.
Yet even after Britain accused Russia of orchestrating a nerve-gas attack on its soil - further souring EU-Russia
Macron
ties - Macron has stressed that ostracising Moscow would not yield results.
“I felt the eagerness of this dynamic young and ambitious man to quickly find concrete solutions, but alas in life it is a little more complicated. The solution in Syria as in Ukraine depends not only on us or the French, but other actors,” former Russian ambassador to France Alexander Orlov told Reuters.
“Nevertheless there is this positive approach on the part of President Macron ... and he is ready to cooperate with Russia to find solutions.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron is taking on Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other internet giants at a Paris meeting to discuss tax and data protection and how they could use their global influence for the public good.
Macron on Wednesday welcomed Zuckerberg and the leaders of dozens of other tech companies, including Microsoft, Uber, and IBM, at a conference named “Tech for Good” meant to address things like workers’ rights, data privacy and tech literacy.
The meeting comes as Facebook, Google and other online giants are increasingly seen by the public as predators that abuse personal data, avoid taxes and stifle competition.
“There is no free lunch!” Macron joked to express his expectations of “frank and direct” discussions.
He said tech giants could not just be “free riding” without taking into account the common good. He called on them to help improve “social situations, inequalities, climate change.”
Zuckerberg came to Paris after facing tough questions Tuesday from European Union lawmakers in Brussels, where he apologized for the way the social network has been used to produce fake news and interfere in elections. But the Facebook founder also frustrated the lawmakers as the testimony’s setup allowed him to respond to a list of questions as he sought fit.
Macron sees himself as uniquely placed to both understand and influence the tech world. France’s youngest president, Macron has championed startups and aggressively wooed technology investors.
But Macron is also one of Europe’s most vocal critics of tax schemes used by companies like Facebook that deprive governments of billions of euros a year in potential revenue. And Macron has defended an aggressive new European data protection law that comes into effect this week. The so-called GDPR regulation will give Europeans more control over what companies can do with what they post, search and click. Several companies took advantage of the meeting to announce new initiatives.
Microsoft said it would extend the EU principles to its clients worldwide. Google committed $100 million over the next five years to support nonprofit projects, like training in digital technologies. Uber said it will finance insurance to better protect its European drivers in case of accidents at work, serious illness, hospitalization and maternity leave. And IBM announced the creation of 1,400 new jobs by 2020 in France.
Aides to Macron acknowledged companies like Facebook have become more influential than governments. The aides insisted that Macron isn’t trying to kiss up to such companies or let them whitewash their reputations through philanthropic gifts.