MACRON: TERRORISM AND REFUGEES ARE TOP PRIORITIES FOR FRANCE
▶ Fight against those who struck at major cities and killed hundreds is central to foreign policy
Battling terrorism is France’s top priority, president Emmanuel Macron said yesterday in a key foreign policy speech.
“Providing security for our citizens means that the fight against Islamist terrorism is our first priority,” Mr Macron told about 200 French ambassadors gathered in Paris.
Since early 2015, France has suffered terrorist attacks that have killed more than 230 people, making the country the worst-affected in western Europe.
“There’s no place for naivete, nor for fear of Islam, which confuses Islamism and Islamic,” he said.
Assuring the security of the French was the main purpose behind the country’s diplomatic efforts, Mr Macron said.
He announced that a conference on curbing the sources of funding for terrorist groups would be held in Paris early next year.
Mr Macron also argued against taking sides in the regional power battle between Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“Some have chosen [their camp]. It’s a mistake. The strength of our diplomacy is to speak to all sides,” he said.
Mr Macron said there was no option but to persist with the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which had been fiercely opposed by US president Donald Trump.
“There is no alternative to the non-proliferation agenda,” he said. “It enables a constructive and demanding relationship with Iran.”
Facing dismal approval ratings less than four months into his term of office, the French president was seeking to improve his foreign policy credentials with the speech, which is a fixture on France’s political calendar.
The country’s youngest president has shown determination to restore what he saw as a decline in international prestige under his predecessor, Francois Hollande.
He has won much praise for making a bold start on the international stage, hosting Mr Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin in his first weeks in office.
Mr Macron, 39, raised questions about human rights with Mr Putin and spoke out against Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw the US from the Paris accord on fighting climate change.
On Monday, he hosted a mini-summit on the migrant crisis with African and European leaders, who backed proposals to screen asylum seekers in Chad and Niger to prevent thousands from attempting the perilous trip across the Mediterranean.
Mr Macron said he would soon travel to Burkina Faso to continue building a relationship with Africa, which he called “a continent of the future” that “we cannot abandon”.
He said he planned to travel to the Middle East next spring, including to Israel and the Palestine, to help the peace process and promote a two-state solution.
“We will continue our efforts with the United Nations to find a two-state solution – Israel and Palestine living safely side-byside within borders recognised by the international community, with Jerusalem as the capital of both states,” Mr Macron said yesterday.
He said that the trip would also include Lebanon and Jordan.