Some people in his circle are worried, and others even admit their “trouble.” By calling the President of the Russian Federation to, according to an expression not denied by the Elysée, “warmly congratulate” Vladimir Putin the day after the legislative elections, Nicolas Sarkozy certainly surprised many. This is especially true as, at the same time, the American President and the German Chancellor also reached out to the powerful master of the Kremlin, but this time to express their dissatisfaction, coupled with their concern, about the undemocratic conditions under which this election was conducted. Moreover, one might question the direction chosen by the president following his travels to Libya, Morocco, China, or Algeria, countries that are not paragons of democratic virtue. What are we to make of the multiple contacts initiated by the Elysée with President Hafez al-Assad, potentially reintroducing Syria into an international game from which it had struggled to be excluded, under the pretext of finding a solution to the Lebanese crisis? With the disappointing results we know.
It is true that, by comparison, the world stage offers many far more outrageous examples of political cynicism: in Gabon, President Omar Bongo, without much concern for the future and stability of the country, expresses satisfaction after forty years of unbroken power; in Venezuela, President Hugo Chavez attempts – unsuccessfully, fortunately – a constitutional push intended to allow him to retain his post for life; in Russia, President Putin benignly considers as “legitimate” elections that are evidently not; in Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf exults in declaring that this is “the first time a fully democratic regime has been established” in the country. It is true also that realism prevails within the European Union: didn’t the President of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, set the tone at the EU-Africa summit in Lisbon by stating that if discussions could only be held with countries respecting human rights, the EU “would no longer attend many international conferences.”
Should we, therefore, accept without flinching the French president’s amiable gestures towards all his hosts with somewhat tarnished reputations? Marks of esteem and friendship even more incomprehensible in light of candidate Sarkozy’s statements during his electoral campaign about a “new presidency dedicated to human rights.” But in the meantime, the confidence shock has not occurred, and growth is not forthcoming. Therefore, there was an urgent need for the head of state to find another solution: that of “no taboo” economic diplomacy, according to the new Elysian watchword.
Setting aside the Syrian case, to the most demanding questions posed about his foreign policy, Nicolas Sarkozy has thus provided – whether they convince or not – the most “tangible” responses: billions of euros in contracts. The highly controversial Paris visit of Muammar Al-Gaddafi fits into this substitution strategy. This will not, of course, solve the issue of the six international arrest warrants over high Libyan officials condemned by default by French justice in the 1989 UTA DC10 bombing. But it comes just in time: global gas giants are currently jostling for the first exploration blocks in the country. Not to mention the likely signing of significant contracts in the fields of weaponry and civilian nuclear power.
Then there are the mysterious “congratulations” addressed to the Kremlin chief. The purely commercial response came on Saturday night. Renault, competing on this matter with General Motors and Fiat, is set to become the exclusive partner of the Avtovaz group, which produces 80% of Russian automobiles, and is well-known for its emblematic Lada brand. The agreement, signed on Saturday, December 8, foresees, according to a major daily, Renault’s forthcoming acquisition of a 25% stake in Avtovaz, allowing the French manufacturer to capture about 40% of the Russian car market. With a former company head, a close associate of Vladimir Putin appointed by him as Governor of the Samara region and recently promoted to head the list of the Kremlin-friendly “United Russia” party during the elections, a phone call was not superfluous.
This all-encompassing economic diplomacy by the French president, at the expense of significant principles that he should have refrained from announcing during his campaign, recalls the necessity, in the post-1989 world, of the “double-track approach,” a dual standard of international relations, depending on political situations and economic stakes. As we have known since Saint-Just in his “Fragments on Republican Institutions” from 1793, “Nations have no allies, they only have interests.”
