Macron: The Days of Popular Sovereignty Are Over

Emmanuel Macron was elected president of France after he defeated National Front candidate, Marie Le Pen. (Photo: New Statesman)

While delivering a keynote speech before the most senior of French diplomats, President Macron revealed his conception of the world and the way in which he intends to use the tools at his disposal. According to him, there will be no more popular sovereignty, neither in France, nor in Europe, and therefore no more national or supra-national democracies. Neither will there be any more collective interest, no more Republic, but an ill-defined catalog of things and ideas which compose the common good.

Describing their new programme of work to the ambassadors, he informed them that they should no longer defend the values of their country, but find opportunities to act in the name of the European Leviathan.

Entering into the details of certain conflicts, he described a programme of economic colonisation of the Levant and Africa.

Participating in the traditional Ambassadors’ Week, President Macron gave his first general speech on foreign policy since his arrival at the Elysée Palace [1]. In this article, all the quotations in inverted commas are taken from his speech.

The President did not give an overall account of current international relations, nor did he explain the role that he imagines for France in the world, but the way in which he intends to use the tool of diplomacy.

According to him, France has not proved capable of adapting to the changes in the world since 1989, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the triumph of US globalisation. In order to rebuild the country, it would be absurd to wish for a return to the ancient concept of national sovereignty. On the contrary, it is necessary to advance by seizing the available levers. This is why, today, – « Our sovereignty is Europe ».

Of course, the European Union is a monster, « a Leviathan » [2]. It has no popular legitimacy, but becomes legitimate when it protects its citizens. In its current format, it is dominated by the Franco-German couple.Therefore he, Emmanuel Macron, and Chancellor Angela Merkel, govern it together. Thus, in his quality as French President, he was able to travel to Poland and, with the agreement of his German partner, who could not, in the light of History, allow itself to aggress Poland, speak there as the implicit representative of the Union, insult the Polish Prime Minister, remind him that Poland does not enjoy sovereignty, and pull it back into the European rank and file.

Already, with the Chancellor, he has decided to act in four sectors:  

the protection of workers;  

the reform of the right to asylum and European cooperation in questions of migration;  

the definition of a commercial policy and means of control of strategic investments;  

the development of European Defence.

These objectives obviously determine the national policies of each of the member states, including France. For example, the measures that Macron’s government has just adopted concerning the reform of the Labour Code, lay down minimal limits for the protection of workers, in conformity with the directives which had already been laid down by the civil servants in Brussels a good while ago. European cooperation concerning migration will set the limits of hospitality which will benefit German industry [3], while the reform of the right to asylum will set the capacity of France’s welcome within the Schengen area. European Defence will allow the unification of the armies of the Union and their collective integration into the ambitions of NATO.

In order to push the European Union along as fast as possible, France and Germany will organise strengthened cooperations on different themes, choosing their partners case by case. The principle of the unanimous decision will be maintained, but only between preselected states which are already in agreement.

The cohesion of this structure will be maintained around four common values –  

« elective and representative democracy ;  

the respect for the human person ;  

religious tolerance and the freedom of expression ;  

and the belief in progress ».

“Elective and representative democracy » will only apply at the local level – (communities of communes and administrative regions, since communes and departments are programmed for elimination) – since there will no longer be any national sovereignty.

“The respect for the human person, religious tolerance and the freedom of expression » should be understood in the sense of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and no longer in the sense of the Declaration of 1789, which figures, after all, as the introduction to the Constitution.

“The belief in progress » will enable the mobilisation of European citizens in a period where everyone can see the richer countries of the Greater Middle East suddenly wiped from the map and beaten back to the Stone Age.

The Macron method

France should use the European tool to adapt itself to a « multipolar and unstable world », given that there is no question of re-establishing the Franco-Russian alliance that President Sadi Carnot and Emperor Alexander III concluded – and since the European Union is the civilian wing of the Atlantic Military Alliance, it is pointless to base French diplomacy on History or values.

It is better, on the contrary, to play the rôle of « counterweight » in order to maintain « the links with the great powers whose strategic interests are diverging ». Let’s be clear about this, the President is not talking about diverging interests between the United States, on one hand, Russia and China on the other, but about maintaining the links that the two major powers should maintain with the United States.

« For that, we must (…) become part of the tradition of existing alliances and, opportunistically, forge these alliances of fortune which will enable us to be more efficient ». Therefore the rôle of the diplomats is no longer to defend the long-term values of France, but to sniff out the short-term opportunities, the promising deals.

The stability of the World

Having established the framework of the European workplace and his method, the function of French diplomacy will be to ensure the safety of the French people by participating in « the stability of the world », and to earn influence by defending « universal common treasure ».

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of national sovereignty, France has no more conventional enemie and so has no further need of an army to defend its territory. However, it has to face a non-conventional enemy, « Islamist terrorism », which requires both an omnipresent police force and a mobile army capable of intervening in the sources of terrorism abroad – Syria and Iraq on one hand, Libya and the Sahel on the other. It is obviously this change of objective, and not a question of budget, which led President Macron to fire the Army chief of staff. The police reform is still to come.

France will continue to protect its Muslim citizens while remaining aware of the link between the Islamist political ideology and the Muslim religion. In this way, it can continue to keep an eye on the practice of the Muslim cult, supervise it, and de facto influence the faithful.

The fight against terrorism also necessitates drying up its finances, which France is pursuing via numerous international institutions ; given that because of « regional crises and divisions, divisions in Africa, and divisions in the Muslim world », certain states secretly participate in this finance. However, first of all terrorism is not a question of men but a method of combat, and secondly, terrorist actions have been considerably better financed since the pretended effort to stop terrorism – it is evident that this system has been put into place by Washington, not against the Muslim Brotherhood but against Iran. And though this has no apparent connection with the financing of terrorism, President Macron brought up the question of Saudi-Iranian antagonism, taking the part of Saudi Arabia and condemning Iran.

Since the attacks by Daesh against « our interests, our lives, our people », peace in Iraq and Syria constitute « a vital priority for France ». This is the source of the change of method which has been on-going since the month of May – of course, Paris « had been sidelined » from the Astana negociations, but it is today « instigating definite progress of the situation » by talking, one by one, with the participants in the Astana meetings. It has convinced them to adopt the objective fixed long ago by President Obama – the outlawing of chemical weapons and admission of humanitarian access to the combat zones. Finally, France has created an « international contact group » which will meet at the occasion of the UN General Assembly around Jean-Yves Le Drian. The return of Syria to the rule of Law «should be accompanied by legal retribution for the crimes committed, notably by the rulers of that country ».

President Macron is therefore making a U-turn on his previous declarations. There is no longer any question of accepting the Syrian Arab Republic and supporting it against Daesh, as he had stated in an interview with the Journal de Dimanche, but on the contrary, to pursue the old double game of using the humanitarian pretext to continue supplying the jihadists with weapons to use against Damascus. The announcement of judgement for the Syrian leaders is equal to the defeat of the Syrian Arab Republic, since never before, absolutely never, has a state brought victorious generals to trial for war crimes. President Macron does not specify which court will be called to judge the rulers, but his language recalls the plan by the Director of Political Affairs for the UN, Jeffrey Feltman, who had already planned in 2012 (that is before generalised war) for the « condemnation » of 120 leaders – a plan which had been drawn up under the direction of one of Madame Merkel’s civil servants, Volker Perthes [4].

Concerning Libya and the Sahel, President Macron reminded his audience of his initiative at La-Celle-Saint-Cloud, during which he brought together « Libyan Prime Minister » Fayez Sarraj and the « head of the Libyan National Army » Khalifa Haftar – a summit at which he had assured the two men of the support of the European Union on the condition that they write off the mysterious disappearance of 100 billion dollars from the Libyan National Treasury [5].

The first consequence of the overthrow of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya was the destabilisation of Mali, a country whose economy was very largely supported by Libya [6]. Mali split into two parts – on one side the sedentary Bantus, on the other the nomadic Tuaregs. French military intervention took note of these facts and prevented their immediate consequences for the civilians. The G5-Sahel was created by France in order to stop the consequences of the war against Libya and to prevent the confontation between blacks and Arabs, which only Mouamar Kadhafi had been able to contain. As for the Alliance for the Development of the Sahel, it is aimed at replacing – with far fewer ressources – the programme of aid for development that Libya had spearheaded in the region. All these measures will ensure the stability of this part of Africa until, in about ten year’s time, the Pentagon implements its plan for the extension of chaos to the black continent [7].

President Macron mentioned the common declaration which he has just had adopted by the African and European partners which sets up European immigration offices on the African continent. Their purpose is to make a primary selection of the immigrants who will be accepted by the Union, and put an end to the different routes of exile. « The roads of necessity must become the paths of liberty » – a formula which resumes the Presidential point of view – Africa is necessity, Europe is freedom.

For Emmanuel Macron, « re-establishing security » in Africa means reliance on the three D’s – « Defence, Development and Diplomacy », in other words the presence of the French army, French investments and French administration – the classic programme of economic colonisation.

The defence of common treasure

Far from neglecting the advantages of the French language and tourism, President Macron spoke of them at length. On this subjet, he launched the idea of profiting from the French legal system in order to expand the country’s influence. So doing, he is using the so-called « Korbel doctrine », according to which, the way in which a treaty is drawn up extends the influence of the country which conceives the concepts – a doctrine used by his daughter, Madeleine Albright, and then by his adopted daughter, Condoleezza Rice, in order to transcribe international treaties in the language of Anglo-Saxon law.

The first common treasure is the planet.

This speech was delivered during « Ambassadors’ Week », during which the Minister came to explain to his staff that as from now, the primary function of his administration was economic diplomacy. When he was Minister for Foreign Affairs, Laurent Fabius had the idea of mobilising the French diplomatic network in order to develop exports. To this end, he created Business France, a public establishment headed, at Fabius’ initiative, by Muriel Penicaud. She used public money which had been entrusted to her in order to launch Emmanuel Macron’s electoral campaign overseas, which is causing her some current trouble with the Law. She is today the Minister for Labour, and drew up the measures intended for the « protection of workers ». As for Laurent Fabius, he has become the President of the Constitutional Council. As such – and in violation of the rôle allotted to him by the Constitution – he has drawn up a Pact for the Environment which President Macron will present to the United Nations.

The second common treasure is peace.

Through « European Defence », President Macron intends to « give new energy » to NATO. The objective of the Alliance is clearly the promotion of « peace », as we can see in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria and Ukraine.

The third common treasure is the Law and human rights.

President Macron, who had previously mentioned the common values of the European Union , which are « respect for the human person, religious tolerance and freeedom of expression », now declares that « the place of women, freedom of the Press, the respect for civil and political rights » are universal values. Unfortunately, he did not specify the distinction that he operates between those which are European and those which are universal. Although he developed a taste for philosophy after he met Paul Ricoeur, he does not seem to have thought much about political philosophy, and in his speeches, he confuses Humanitarian Law with Human Rights, and also, while we’re on the subject, their Anglo-Saxon meaning (protection of the individual faced with state abuse) and their French meaning (responsabilities of men, citizens and the Nation).

The fourth common treasure is culture.

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