Tag: France

France urged to outlaw hair discrimination against afros and braids

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France must introduce a law banning hair discrimination against natural afro hairstyles and braids, a lawmaker from Guadeloupe has argued as he prepares a cross-party bill to be presented to parliament in the autumn.
“Just as the Republic’s motto is ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’, this is about allowing everyone to be as they are and as they want to be, whether in it’s in the workplace or anywhere else,” Olivier Serva told France Info radio.
Serva, who left Macron’s centrist party, La République En Marche, and sits with a different centrist opposition grouping, said he was seeking calm “cross-party consensus”. In order to introduce a law on hair discrimination, he had approached all other parties in parliament except the far-right National Rally.
He said the law was about “fighting against any form of discrimination linked to hair texture, length, colour and style”.
Serva said the case of a black flight attendant for Air France who took his employers to an industrial tribunal because of discrimination over his braids had showed how France needed to tighten up legislation with a specific text on hair discrimination, and also increase awareness in the workplace and broader society.
Aboubakar Traoré, an Air France steward who had changed his hairstyle to braids worn tied back in a chignon, had been refused access to a flight because his hairstyle was said not to conform to the rules in the flight manual for male staff. After a legal battle lasting more than a decade, France’s highest appeals court found in Traoré’s favour in November last year, ruling that the company authorised female staff to wear braids and so could not ban the hairstyle from male staff.
Serva said Traoré’s long legal case showed that there was a gap in the law and specific legislation should focus on hair discrimination.
He said black women were taking health risks to straighten their hair with chemicals because of discrimination in French society and in the workplace. He said the law would ban any form of hair discrimination, including towards women and men with afro hairstyles or braids, as well as stereotyping against bald men or women with blond hair.

Serva said that because France did not count data based on ethnicity, there were no studies on the extent of hair discrimination against black people in France, but he said it would be similar to the US or UK. He cited a study funded by Dove and LinkedIn that found that two-thirds of black women in the US had felt obliged to change their hair for a job interview.
When Macron’s former adviser Sibeth Ndiaye became spokesperson for the French government during Macron’s first term in office, her natural afro hairstyle was targeted in racist commentary on social networks.
Joëlle Dago-Serry, a French career coach and TV commentator, told a chatshow on RMC radio: “Of course there is discrimination … my mother first straightened my hair when I was seven or eight … I’m of the generation where our hair was very much straightened using dangerous products in order to pass the barrier of a job interview, or to move up in a career.
“Natural afro hair is seen as not styled, it’s not understood or accepted, comments are made about it. Behind the word discrimination are the real stories of people who have the right qualifications and skills but don’t get the job because they don’t have the so-called ‘right’ hair.”
The proposed bill would have to be approved by the leader of the French parliament in order to be put on the parliamentary agenda in October.
Last year, the US House of Representatives passed a bill banning race-based discrimination on hair, specifically textures or styles associated with a particular race or national origin such as dreadlocks, afros and braids. The bill was known as the Crown Act, standing for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair.
In 2019, California because the first US state to ban discrimination against natural hair.
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#France #urged #outlaw #hair #discrimination #afros #braids
( With inputs from : www.theguardian.com )

April 28, 2023
Western governments evacuate more citizens from Sudan as situation deteriorates

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The U.K conducted its last evacuation flight from Sudan on Saturday, as the U.S. and France also brought groups of foreign nationals out of the conflict-torn African country.
The moves come amid a deteriorating security situation in Sudan, as fighting continues between the Sudanese Armed Forces and its rival paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The British government decided to end evacuation flights “because of a decline in demand by British nationals, and because the situation on ground continues to remain volatile,” the U.K. Foreign Office said in a statement.
“Focus will now turn to providing consular support to British nationals in Port Sudan and in neighboring countries in the region,” it said, noting that more than 1,888 people were evacuated on 21 flights during the operation.
A French plane arrived in Chad on Friday carrying staff from the United Nations and international humanitarian non-profit organizations. France has evacuated over a thousand people from Sudan since the outbreak of hostilities.
The U.S. State Department said on Saturday that a convoy of U.S. citizens, locally-employed staff and citizens of partner countries arrived in Port Sudan and that it is assisting those eligible to travel onward to Saudi Arabia.
“Intensive negotiations by the United States with the support of our regional and international partners enabled the security conditions that have allowed the departure of thousands of foreign and U.S. citizens,” the State Department said.
“We continue,” it added, “to call on the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to end the fighting that is endangering civilians.”

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#Western #governments #evacuate #citizens #Sudan #situation #deteriorates
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 28, 2023
Baltics blast China diplomat for questioning sovereignty of ex-Soviet states

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The Baltic states of Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are demanding an explanation from Beijing after China’s top envoy to France questioned the independence of former Soviet countries like Ukraine.
Lu Shaye, China’s ambassador to France, said in an interview on Friday with French television network LCI that former Soviet countries have no “effective status” in international law.
Asked whether Crimea belongs to Ukraine, Lu said that “it depends how you perceive the problem,” arguing that it was historically part of Russia and offered to Ukraine by former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev.
“In international law, even these ex-Soviet Union countries do not have the status, the effective [status] in international law, because there is no international agreement to materialize their status as a sovereign country,” he said.
The comments sparked outrage among Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia — three former Soviet countries.
Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said in a tweet that his ministry summoned “the authorized chargé d’affaires of the Chinese embassy in Riga on Monday to provide explanations. This step is coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia.”
He called the comments “completely unacceptable,” adding: “We expect explanation from the Chinese side and complete retraction of this statement.”
Margus Tsahkna, Estonia’s foreign minister, called the comments “false” and “a misinterpretation of history.”

Gabrielius Landsbergis, Lithuania’s foreign minister, shared the interview on Twitter with the comment: “If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don’t trust China to “broker peace in Ukraine,” here’s a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries’ borders have no legal basis.”
Kyiv also pushed back strongly against the ambassador’s comments.
“It is strange to hear an absurd version of the ‘history of Crimea’ from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand-year history,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, said in a tweet on Sunday. “If you want to be a major political player, do not parrot the propaganda of Russian outsiders.”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called the remarks “unacceptable” in a tweet on Sunday. “The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy,” Borrell said.
France in a statement on Sunday stated its “full solidarity” with all the allied countries affected, which it said had acquired their independence “after decades of oppression,” according to Reuters. “On Ukraine specifically, it was internationally recognized within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China,” a foreign ministry spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The foreign ministry spokesperson also called on China to clarify whether the ambassador’s statement reflects its position or not.
The row comes ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, where relations with China are on the agenda.

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#Baltics #blast #China #diplomat #questioning #sovereignty #exSoviet #states
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 21, 2023
Europe’s disunity over China deepens

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BRUSSELS — Just when you thought Europe’s China policy could not be more disunited, the two most powerful countries of the European Union are now also at odds over whether to revive a moribund investment agreement with the authoritarian superpower.
For France, resuscitating the so-called EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is “less urgent” and “just not practicable,” according to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in favor of “reactivating” the agreement, which stalled soon after it was announced in late 2020 after Beijing imposed sanctions on several members of the European Parliament for criticizing human rights violations.
Speaking to POLITICO aboard his presidential plane during a visit to China earlier this month, Macron said he and Chinese leader Xi Jinping discussed the CAI, “but just a little bit.”
“I was very blunt with President Xi, I was very honest, as far as this is a European process — all the institutions need to be involved, and there is no chance to see any progress on this agreement as long as we have members of the European Parliament sanctioned by China,” Macron told POLITICO in English.
Beijing has proved skilled at preventing the EU from developing a unified China policy, using threats ranging from potential bans on French and Spanish wine to warnings that China will buy American Boeing instead of French Airbus planes.
Disagreement over the CAI is only one further example of divergence over China policy in Europe, where Beijing has expertly courted various countries and played them against each other in games of divide-and-rule over the past decade.
Scholz seeks CAI thaw
Following seven years of tortuous negotiations, the CAI was rushed through by former German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the end of Germany’s six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the EU in late 2020.

Merkel sought to seal the deal and ingratiate herself with Beijing before Washington could apply pressure to block it, causing tension with the incoming administration of U.S. President Joe Biden.
Germany has long been the most vocal cheerleader for the CAI due to its scale of manufacturing investments in China, particularly in the car-making and chemicals sectors.
The CAI would have made it marginally easier for European companies to invest in China and protect their intellectual property there. But critics decried weak worker protections and questioned to what degree it could be enforced.
Xi Jinping during Macron’s visit to Beijing | Ludovic Marin/AFP via Getty Images
Soon after the agreement was announced, Beijing imposed sanctions on several European parliamentarians in retaliation for their criticism of human rights abuses in the restive region of Xinjiang.
The deal, which requires ratification by the European parliament, went into political deep freeze.
Scholz, who at times seems to mimic the more popular Merkel, would like to take CAI “out of the freezer” — but has cautioned that “this must be done with care” to avoid political pitfalls, according to a person he briefed directly but who was not authorized to comment publicly.
“It is surprising Scholz still thinks this is a good idea, despite the vastly changed context from a couple of years ago,” said one senior EU official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to freely discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.
EU branches split
Not only are EU countries divided on how to approach CAI — there’s also a rift among institutions in Brussels.
With its members sanctioned, the European Parliament is certain to reject any fresh attempt to ratify the CAI.
But like Scholz, European Council President Charles Michel also hopes to resuscitate the deal. He has discussed this with Chinese communist leaders, including during his solo visit to Beijing late last year, according to a senior EU official familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, however, has stymied Michel’s attempts to place the agreement back on the agenda in Brussels. Von der Leyen is far more skeptical of engaging with China, citing increasing aggression abroad and repression at home.
Von der Leyen accompanied Macron on part of his China trip earlier this month, but said of her brief meeting with Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials that the topic of CAI “did not come up.” She has publicly argued that the deal needs to be “reassessed” in light of deteriorating relations between Beijing and the West.
Meanwhile, Chinese officials have made overtures to Michel and other sympathetic European leaders, suggesting China could unilaterally lift its sanctions on members of the European Parliament — but only with a “guarantee” the CAI would eventually be ratified.
A spokesperson for Michel said an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers will discuss EU-China relations on May 12. “Following that discussion we will then assess when the topic of China is again put on the table of the European Council,” he said.
During the same interview with POLITICO, Macron caused consternation in Western capitals when he said Europe should not follow America, but instead avoid confronting China over its stated goal of seizing the democratic island of Taiwan by force.
Manfred Weber, head of the center-right European People’s Party, the largest party in the European Parliament, described the French president’s comments as “a disaster.”
In an an interview with Italian media, he said that the remarks had “weakened the EU” and “made clear the great rift within the European Union in defining a common strategic plan against Beijing.”

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#Europes #disunity #China #deepens
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 21, 2023
‘Frustrating’: Ukraine slams EU for failing to deliver on ammo plan

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Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba slammed the EU on Thursday for failing to “implement its own decision” to jointly purchase ammunition for Ukraine as the bloc’s members spar over how to enact the plans.
“The inability of the EU to implement its own decision on the joint procurement of ammunition for Ukraine is frustrating,” Kuleba said on Twitter, marking a considerable change in tone from Kyiv toward the club it hopes to join.
EU leaders agreed last month on the idea to band together and draw money from a communal pot to help deliver Kyiv up to 1 million shells in the next 12 months as Ukraine fights off Russia’s invasion. But negotiations have hit an impasse at the ambassador level over how to spend the €1 billion set aside for joint contracts.
Kuleba said this was a test of the EU’s ability to make crucial new security decisions and whether the bloc truly has “strategic autonomy” — echoing the favorite term used by French President Emmanuel Macron when he recently stirred up controversy by saying Europe must not become “America’s followers.”
The main point of contention in the ammunition purchase talks revolves around how much to restrict the money to EU manufacturers, and whether to include companies in places like the U.S. and U.K.
France has been leading the charge to keep the money within the bloc, while others, including Poland, fear that Europe’s defense industry may not be up to the task of delivering 1 million shells to Ukraine in the promised timeframe of 12 months.
Talks will likely continue next week, meaning EU foreign ministers won’t have a deal in hand when they meet on Monday in Luxembourg to discuss the war.
“For Ukraine, the cost of inaction is measured in human lives,” Kuleba said.

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#Frustrating #Ukraine #slams #failing #deliver #ammo #plan
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 20, 2023
Macron doubles down on French ‘independence’ amid pension reform crisis

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PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron drew a connection between his country’s pension reform and Europe’s independence from other countries, during a televised address Monday evening.
“We are a people who intend to control and choose our destiny, who do not want to depend on anyone, neither on the forces of speculation, nor on foreign powers, nor on wills other than our own, and we are right,” Macron said during the 15-minute speech.
The French head of state’s TV appearance was the first time he has addressed the nation since he signed his contentious pension reform — which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 — into law amid a prolonged political and social crisis.
The president’s reference to independence from “foreign powers” echoed controversial comments he made earlier this month in an interview with POLITICO and French daily Les Echos. On his way back from China, the French president created a stir by saying Europe should avoid being the United States’ follower — including on the matter of Taiwan’s security.
“One cannot declare its independence: It is built through ambitions, efforts at the national and European level, in terms of knowledge, research, attractiveness, technology, industry, defense. And it is also financed collectively through work,” Macron said Monday.
European and French independence, he added, is what will “allow us to obtain more justice” and decrease inequalities.
The bill was greenlit by the country’s top constitutional court on Friday, crushing hopes of opposition parties and unions that the reform could still be stopped.
The French president, who faces the prospect of a gridlocked parliament, said his government would focus on labor, law and justice, and “progress” in the coming months, with Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne expected to present a more detailed roadmap next week.

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#Macron #doubles #French #independence #pension #reform #crisis
( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 17, 2023
EU turns to Elon Musk to replace stalled French rocket

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The European Commission wants to cut deals with private American space companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to launch cutting-edge European navigation satellites due to continued delays to Europe’s next generation Ariane rocket system.
In a draft request to EU countries seen by POLITICO, the Commission is planning to ask for a green light to negotiate “an ad-hoc security agreement” with the U.S. for its rocket companies to “exceptionally launch Galileo satellites.”
The Commission reckons only SpaceX’s Falcon 9 heavy launcher and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan system are up to the job of sending the EU’s new geo-navigation Galileo satellites — which weigh around 700 kilograms each — into orbit.
Seeking U.S. help to keep its flagship space program running puts a dent in the EU’s idea of strategic autonomy. Galileo is a point of pride for the EU, as it seeks to become less dependent on other regions for critical infrastructure, services and technology — a quest strongly backed by Paris.
The EU is having to seek assistance to launch new versions of its navigation satellites because the Ariane 5 rocket, developed by France-based ArianeGroup and launched from France’s South American spaceport in French Guiana, is to be retired in the next months.
The deployment of its replacement, Ariane 6, has been delayed; the new system is currently expected to carry out a maiden launch at the end of this year, with full commercial deployment starting next year.
The alternative to the Ariane series would have been launching Galileo satellites with Russian-built Soyuz rockets, a version of which are also used at the French Guiana site. However, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, two Galileo launches using Soyuz rockets have been cancelled, prompting the search for alternatives.
Galileo satellites beam highly accurate navigation and precise time data back to earth — and also provide a top secret encrypted service for use by government agencies. That means launches typically can only be carried out from EU territory under tight security rules.

“In view of the security sensitive information … included in Galileo satellites, an ad-hoc legally binding security agreement with [the] U.S. is necessary, in order to protect the integrity of the satellites and the Galileo constellation,” said part of a draft proposal from the Commission seen by POLITICO.
It will be up to EU countries to approve negotiations for an agreement, which would come under the umbrella of standing deals on the exchange of classified information, the proposal states.
Capacity to launch satellites and humans into space independently of other powers has been a key part of French efforts to develop the concept of strategic autonomy for Europe.
But the need to contract out launches of critical space infrastructure to private companies operating in the U.S. undermines the argument that Europe is able to manage its own alternative to the U.S. GPS, Russia’s Glonass and China’s BeiDou constellations.
“Analyses are … ongoing to ascertain whether or not launching with an alternative launch service provider would be feasible,” said Commission spokesperson Sonya Gospodinova, adding that no decision has yet been taken. Assessments are being made on technical compatibility, launch site security and cost, she said.
While SpaceX’s Falcon rocket is already operational, ULA only plans its first Vulcan mission in May.
The Paris-based European Space Agency, which isn’t an EU institution but helps manage Galileo and runs the French Guiana spaceport, had already been looking at alternative launch options for satellites.

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 17, 2023
U.K. treasury chief urges U.S.-Europe unity after France calls for break

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He signaled that the U.K. isn’t interested in breaking with the U.S. on geopolitics — days after French President Emmanuel Macron called for Europe to bolster its autonomy from Washington. He also said he doesn’t plan to get into a subsidy war with the U.S. in response to President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which is rattling Europe with incentives for green energy companies to operate in the States. He also defended the U.K.‘s decision to waive a core banking regulation to let HSBC acquire the U.K. business of Silicon Valley Bank after the California-based lender failed last month.
On divergent global economic forecasts, with the IMF seeing “anemic” growth and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen pushing an outlook that’s “reasonably bright.”
We are in a much stronger position than we thought we would be in the autumn. And I would say that I’m not the only finance minister who is a bit more optimistic than the IMF.
It’s a cautious optimism. That’s probably the mood I would describe it as. I think people have seen banking turbulence in Switzerland and California. There’s obviously high inflation … and that’s a destabilizing factor.
So I think there is caution alongside the optimism, but I think that most people think that this is a set of challenges that the world economy can weather.
On whether Britain set a bad precedent by waiving rules designed to separate retail and investment banking when it permitted HSBC to buy the U.K. operations of Silicon Valley Bank.
In any situation like the one that the United States authorities faced with the parent branch [of SVB] or Swiss authorities faced with Credit Suisse, you have to show some flexibility at the margins without compromising core principles.
And in this case, the ring-fencing waiver was actually a very, very small thing in the grander scheme of the ring-fencing protections that we have in the U.K.

We’re not going to do anything to unlearn the lessons of 2008.
On the stability of the U.K. banking industry, after rising interest rates triggered the downfall of SVB.
Are there lessons that we can learn from seeing the speed at which that issue happened? Of course there are.
But do I think the U.K. banking system can withstand a period of higher interest rates? Yes, I think it can.
On whether he agrees with former U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss that Britain should take a harder line with China and the suggestion that Macron was weak for visiting Beijing to help resolve the Ukraine conflict.
We are all talking in the finance minister world about making sure that we don’t have [economic] dependencies in key areas.
My message to my colleagues is, there’s two ways we can do this.
We can either revert into saying we’re all going to try and solve this by ourselves, which is essentially protectionism, which will mean that the world will go back to the Dark Ages when we didn’t have free trade, or we can try and resolve this issue together, which actually is a more resilient solution because there will be more options. It’ll be cheaper, we’ll get there more quickly.
Of course, we need to make sure when it comes to China, that we don’t have dependencies when it comes to key technologies. And that work is continuing apace.
You can say things out of office that you can’t necessarily say in office. But I would say that if you’re saying is there a big difference between my approach and [French finance minister] Bruno Le Maire’s approach when it comes to making sure that we have economic resilience, that we are de-risking supply chains, I don’t think there is a big difference.
I think we both recognize that we need to learn lessons from what happened in Ukraine.
On Macron’s idea that Europe needs to band together and break away from U.S. leadership.
Ukraine stands free and independent today because of leadership by the United States.
And I would say also, that contrary to what Putin wanted, there has been complete unity in Europe, standing foursquare behind the Ukrainians.
That says to me one very simple thing: That when Europe and the United States stand together, we can successfully defend democracy and freedom around the world.
And that to me is not just the big lesson of the last year, but it’s actually the big lesson of the last 100 years as well.
I see the need for Europe to invest more in its own defense. I don’t think it’s sustainable in the long run for Europe to say that we’re going to depend on American taxpayers to fund a third to a half of our defense needs in Europe. Absolutely not.
And so we need to contribute more to our own defense. But we need to do so in a way that is working hand in glove with other countries that share our democratic values — and the leading one of those is the United States.
On the extent to which the U.K.’s response to the Inflation Reduction Act will amount to more subsidies for green industries.
Although we have concerns about elements of the Inflation Reduction Act ending up being protectionist, which we think would be a bad thing for the United States and for the rest of the world, we don’t think of it as a bad thing.
We think that the world is more likely to get to net zero [greenhouse gas emissions] because of the Inflation Reduction Act because it’s going to provoke a huge amount of additional investment in clean energy.
And we think the world, not just the United States, will get to net zero more cheaply as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act because of the technology advances that will happen, which will end up going well beyond the shores of the U.S.
We’re not going to get involved in a subsidy race. But we will have a comprehensive response to the Inflation Reduction Act.
We’ve waited because we wanted to see what the EU response was going to be. We think we’ve got an idea of what that’s going to be. And I’ve committed to coming forward with the U.K. response in my autumn statement later on in the year.
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#U.K #treasury #chief #urges #U.S.Europe #unity #France #calls #break
( With inputs from : www.politico.com )

April 13, 2023
Europe’s eastern half claps back at Macron: We need the US

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Stop driving Europe away from the United States, dismayed central and eastern European officials fumed on Tuesday as French President Emmanuel Macron’s comments continued to ripple across the Continent.
Macron jolted allies in the EU’s eastern half after a visit to China last week when he cautioned the Continent against getting pulled into a U.S.-China dispute over Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own, imploring his neighbors to avoid becoming Washington and Beijing’s “vassals.”
The comments rattled those near the EU’s eastern edge, who have historically favored closer ties with the Americans — especially on defense — and pushed for a hasher approach to Beijing.

“Instead of building strategic autonomy from the United States, I propose a strategic partnership with the United States,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Tuesday before flying off to the U.S., of all places, for a three-day visit.
Privately, diplomats were even franker.
“We cannot understand [Macron’s] position on transatlantic relations during these very challenging times,” said one diplomat from an Eastern European country, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely express themselves. “We, as the EU, should be united. Unfortunately, this visit and French remarks following it are not helpful.”
The reactions reflect the long-simmering divisions within Europe over how to best defend itself. Macron has long argued for Europe to become more autonomous economically and militarily — a push many in Central and Eastern Europe fear could alienate a valuable U.S. helping keep Russia at bay, even if they support boosting the EU’s ability to act independently.
“In the current world of geopolitical shifts, and especially in the face of Russia’s war against Ukraine, it is obvious that democracies have to work closer together than ever before,” said another senior diplomat from Eastern Europe. “We should be all reminded of the wisdom of the first U.S ambassador to France Benjamin Franklin who rightly remarked that either we stick together or we will be hanged separately.”
Macron, a third senior diplomat from the same region huffed, was freelancing yet again: “It is not the first time that Macron has expressed views that are his own and do not represent the EU’s position.”
Walking into controversy
In his interview, Macron touched on a tense subject within Europe: how it should balance itself against the superpower fight between the U.S. and China.
The French president encouraged Europe to chart its own course, cautioning that Europe faces a “great risk” if it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.”
Macron said he wants Europe to become a “third pole” to counterbalance China and the U.S. in the long term | Pool photo by Jacques Witt/AFP via Getty Images
It’s a stance that has many adherents within Europe — and has even worked its way into official EU policy as officials work to slowly ensure the Continent’s supply lines aren’t fully yoked to China and others on everything from weapons to electric vehicles.
Macron said he wants Europe to become a “third pole” to counterbalance China and the U.S. in the long term. An imminent conflict between Being and Washington, he argued, would put that goal at risk.
Yet out east, officials lamented that the French leader was simply treating the U.S. and China as if they were essentially the same in a global power play.
The comments, the second diplomat said, were “both ill-timed and inappropriate to put both the United States and China on a par and suggest that the EU should keep strategic distance to both of them.”
A Central European diplomat flatly dismissed Macron’s stance as “pretty outrageous,” while another official from the same region chalked it up to an attempt “to distract from other problems and show that France is bigger than what it is” — a reference to the protests roiling France amid Macron’s pension reforms.
The frustration in Central and Eastern Europe stems in part from a feeling that the French president has never made clear who would replace Washington in Europe — especially if Russia expands its war beyond Ukraine, said Kristi Raik, head of the foreign policy program at the International Centre for Defence and Security, a think tank in Estonia, a country of about 1.3 million people that borders Russia.
It’s an emotional point for Europe’s eastern half, where memories of the Soviet era linger.
“We hear Macron talking about European strategic autonomy, and somehow just being completely silent about the issue, which has become so clear in Ukraine, that actually European security and defense depends very strongly on the U.S.,” Raik said.
Raik noted, of course, that European countries, most notably Germany, are scrambling to update their militaries. France has also pledged large increases in its defense budgets.
But these changes, she cautioned, will take a “very long time.”
If Macron “wants to be serious in showing that he really aims at a Europe that is capable of defending itself,” Raik argued, “he also should be showing that France is willing to do much more to defend Europe vis-à-vis Russia.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023
Macron was ‘kissing Xi’s ass’ in China, Trump says

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Donald Trump accused French President Emmanuel Macron of sucking up to China late Wednesday.
“You’ve got this crazy world that’s blowing up and the United States have absolutely no say,” Trump, who became the first U.S. president — former or current — to be indicted last month, told Fox News.
“And Macron, who’s a friend of mine, is over with China kissing [Xi’s] ass in China, okay. I said France is now going to China?” said Trump, whose relationship with Macron gradually soured during his time in office.
Macron’s comments come after the French president suggested Europe avoid getting dragged into a U.S.-China confrontation over Taiwan, in an interview with POLITICO during his official visit to China.
The “great risk” Europe faces, Macron claimed, is that it “gets caught up in crises that are not ours, which prevents it from building its strategic autonomy.”
Macron’s comments have not made him new friends on the other side of the Atlantic.
In the U.S., Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, called them “embarrassing” and “disgraceful. The White House said only that it was “focused on the terrific collaboration and coordination that we have with France,” per National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby.
Despite his harsh words for Macron’s China trip, Trump — who more than once boasted about his excellent relationship with the Chinese president when he was in office — went on to praise Xi Jinping in his interview Wednesday.

“President Xi is a brilliant man: if you went all over Hollywood to look for somebody to play the role of President Xi, you couldn’t find him,” Trump said.
“There’s nobody like that: The look, the brains, the whole thing,” he added, describing Xi someone who is “top of the line smart.”

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( With inputs from : www.politico.eu )

April 11, 2023