First modification:
President Emmanuel Macron, whose first term is about to end, is the only French president – in more than four decades – who has not made an official visit to a Latin American country. His fleeting presence in 2018 in Buenos Aires was on the occasion of a G-20 meeting.
The presidents of France refer to Latin America as an important ally. Since the presidency of General Charles de Gaulle, with one exception, the Gallic representative visited some Latin American country. This tradition was broken with President Emmanuel Macron. Given that he is likely to be re-elected for a second term, it is worth asking why that change.
“That does not mean that the president is not interested in Latin America; he received many Latin American presidents,” says Jean Jacques Kourliandksy, director of the Observatory of Latin America of the Jean Jaurès Foundation and researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International Relations, guest on Scale in Paris.
President Macron “receives, but does not visit”, underlines the researcher, who adds that “the situation has been very particular, so there were other more urgent moments for French policy. Latin America is the last in the queue for France. Whoever the president is, with the striking exception of General de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, who included Latin America in their vision of the world.”
In 2018, within the framework of the Latin American Week that takes place every year in France, the ambassadors, some ministers and not a few Latin American politicians were invited to the Elysee to listen to the message of the French president. After more than an hour of making them wait, a person in charge of the French presidency announced that the president could not receive them because he was negotiating the crisis in that country with a delegation from Libya. The gesture was very badly seen by Latin Americans.
In the president’s diplomatic team, there are advisers for Africa, Continental Europe, Europe, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, but there is no one for Latin America. They are more than 670 million inhabitants.
“Indeed, it is the adviser to Asia who has Latin America in a drawer. But in Hollande’s time the same thing happened, in Sarkozy’s time as well. It is a heavy trend that comes from afar. I would say that Latin America has a certain form of guilt. There was an attempt to have a very strong cooperation with Brazil, which began in 2008 in the time of Sarkozy and continued with Hollande. With the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, France is not the central country, for him the The most important country is the United States, and eventually Russia, which is a member of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China)”.
Regarding the two other countries with the greatest weight in the region, Kourliandksy notes: “Argentina is in a long-term financial crisis, it is not capable of playing an important role even in Latin America, and Mexico currently has a president who does not travel . At the international level there is always a minimum of reciprocity. So, it is very difficult to put together a strategic cooperation with Mexico, without there being a personal commitment from the presidents.”
When looking at the programs of the other candidates, the lack of knowledge of Latin America is total, except for one candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from France Insoumise.
“Even Mélenchon, I read his program and he talks a bit about Latin America. There are some elements related to the departments of America that could integrate some regional spaces, but not much”, indicates Jean Jacques Kourliandksy.
First modification:
President Emmanuel Macron, whose first term is about to end, is the only French president – in more than four decades – who has not made an official visit to a Latin American country. His fleeting presence in 2018 in Buenos Aires was on the occasion of a G-20 meeting.
The presidents of France refer to Latin America as an important ally. Since the presidency of General Charles de Gaulle, with one exception, the Gallic representative visited some Latin American country. This tradition was broken with President Emmanuel Macron. Given that he is likely to be re-elected for a second term, it is worth asking why that change.
“That does not mean that the president is not interested in Latin America; he received many Latin American presidents,” says Jean Jacques Kourliandksy, director of the Observatory of Latin America of the Jean Jaurès Foundation and researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International Relations, guest on Scale in Paris.
President Macron “receives, but does not visit”, underlines the researcher, who adds that “the situation has been very particular, so there were other more urgent moments for French policy. Latin America is the last in the queue for France. Whoever the president is, with the striking exception of General de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, who included Latin America in their vision of the world.”
In 2018, within the framework of the Latin American Week that takes place every year in France, the ambassadors, some ministers and not a few Latin American politicians were invited to the Elysee to listen to the message of the French president. After more than an hour of making them wait, a person in charge of the French presidency announced that the president could not receive them because he was negotiating the crisis in that country with a delegation from Libya. The gesture was very badly seen by Latin Americans.
In the president’s diplomatic team, there are advisers for Africa, Continental Europe, Europe, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, but there is no one for Latin America. They are more than 670 million inhabitants.
“Indeed, it is the adviser to Asia who has Latin America in a drawer. But in Hollande’s time the same thing happened, in Sarkozy’s time as well. It is a heavy trend that comes from afar. I would say that Latin America has a certain form of guilt. There was an attempt to have a very strong cooperation with Brazil, which began in 2008 in the time of Sarkozy and continued with Hollande. With the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, France is not the central country, for him the The most important country is the United States, and eventually Russia, which is a member of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China)”.
Regarding the two other countries with the greatest weight in the region, Kourliandksy notes: “Argentina is in a long-term financial crisis, it is not capable of playing an important role even in Latin America, and Mexico currently has a president who does not travel . At the international level there is always a minimum of reciprocity. So, it is very difficult to put together a strategic cooperation with Mexico, without there being a personal commitment from the presidents.”
When looking at the programs of the other candidates, the lack of knowledge of Latin America is total, except for one candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from France Insoumise.
“Even Mélenchon, I read his program and he talks a bit about Latin America. There are some elements related to the departments of America that could integrate some regional spaces, but not much”, indicates Jean Jacques Kourliandksy.
First modification:
President Emmanuel Macron, whose first term is about to end, is the only French president – in more than four decades – who has not made an official visit to a Latin American country. His fleeting presence in 2018 in Buenos Aires was on the occasion of a G-20 meeting.
The presidents of France refer to Latin America as an important ally. Since the presidency of General Charles de Gaulle, with one exception, the Gallic representative visited some Latin American country. This tradition was broken with President Emmanuel Macron. Given that he is likely to be re-elected for a second term, it is worth asking why that change.
“That does not mean that the president is not interested in Latin America; he received many Latin American presidents,” says Jean Jacques Kourliandksy, director of the Observatory of Latin America of the Jean Jaurès Foundation and researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International Relations, guest on Scale in Paris.
President Macron “receives, but does not visit”, underlines the researcher, who adds that “the situation has been very particular, so there were other more urgent moments for French policy. Latin America is the last in the queue for France. Whoever the president is, with the striking exception of General de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, who included Latin America in their vision of the world.”
In 2018, within the framework of the Latin American Week that takes place every year in France, the ambassadors, some ministers and not a few Latin American politicians were invited to the Elysee to listen to the message of the French president. After more than an hour of making them wait, a person in charge of the French presidency announced that the president could not receive them because he was negotiating the crisis in that country with a delegation from Libya. The gesture was very badly seen by Latin Americans.
In the president’s diplomatic team, there are advisers for Africa, Continental Europe, Europe, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, but there is no one for Latin America. They are more than 670 million inhabitants.
“Indeed, it is the adviser to Asia who has Latin America in a drawer. But in Hollande’s time the same thing happened, in Sarkozy’s time as well. It is a heavy trend that comes from afar. I would say that Latin America has a certain form of guilt. There was an attempt to have a very strong cooperation with Brazil, which began in 2008 in the time of Sarkozy and continued with Hollande. With the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, France is not the central country, for him the The most important country is the United States, and eventually Russia, which is a member of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China)”.
Regarding the two other countries with the greatest weight in the region, Kourliandksy notes: “Argentina is in a long-term financial crisis, it is not capable of playing an important role even in Latin America, and Mexico currently has a president who does not travel . At the international level there is always a minimum of reciprocity. So, it is very difficult to put together a strategic cooperation with Mexico, without there being a personal commitment from the presidents.”
When looking at the programs of the other candidates, the lack of knowledge of Latin America is total, except for one candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from France Insoumise.
“Even Mélenchon, I read his program and he talks a bit about Latin America. There are some elements related to the departments of America that could integrate some regional spaces, but not much”, indicates Jean Jacques Kourliandksy.
First modification:
President Emmanuel Macron, whose first term is about to end, is the only French president – in more than four decades – who has not made an official visit to a Latin American country. His fleeting presence in 2018 in Buenos Aires was on the occasion of a G-20 meeting.
The presidents of France refer to Latin America as an important ally. Since the presidency of General Charles de Gaulle, with one exception, the Gallic representative visited some Latin American country. This tradition was broken with President Emmanuel Macron. Given that he is likely to be re-elected for a second term, it is worth asking why that change.
“That does not mean that the president is not interested in Latin America; he received many Latin American presidents,” says Jean Jacques Kourliandksy, director of the Observatory of Latin America of the Jean Jaurès Foundation and researcher at IRIS, the Institute of International Relations, guest on Scale in Paris.
President Macron “receives, but does not visit”, underlines the researcher, who adds that “the situation has been very particular, so there were other more urgent moments for French policy. Latin America is the last in the queue for France. Whoever the president is, with the striking exception of General de Gaulle and François Mitterrand, who included Latin America in their vision of the world.”
In 2018, within the framework of the Latin American Week that takes place every year in France, the ambassadors, some ministers and not a few Latin American politicians were invited to the Elysee to listen to the message of the French president. After more than an hour of making them wait, a person in charge of the French presidency announced that the president could not receive them because he was negotiating the crisis in that country with a delegation from Libya. The gesture was very badly seen by Latin Americans.
In the president’s diplomatic team, there are advisers for Africa, Continental Europe, Europe, Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, but there is no one for Latin America. They are more than 670 million inhabitants.
“Indeed, it is the adviser to Asia who has Latin America in a drawer. But in Hollande’s time the same thing happened, in Sarkozy’s time as well. It is a heavy trend that comes from afar. I would say that Latin America has a certain form of guilt. There was an attempt to have a very strong cooperation with Brazil, which began in 2008 in the time of Sarkozy and continued with Hollande. With the current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, France is not the central country, for him the The most important country is the United States, and eventually Russia, which is a member of the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India, China)”.
Regarding the two other countries with the greatest weight in the region, Kourliandksy notes: “Argentina is in a long-term financial crisis, it is not capable of playing an important role even in Latin America, and Mexico currently has a president who does not travel . At the international level there is always a minimum of reciprocity. So, it is very difficult to put together a strategic cooperation with Mexico, without there being a personal commitment from the presidents.”
When looking at the programs of the other candidates, the lack of knowledge of Latin America is total, except for one candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, from France Insoumise.
“Even Mélenchon, I read his program and he talks a bit about Latin America. There are some elements related to the departments of America that could integrate some regional spaces, but not much”, indicates Jean Jacques Kourliandksy.