Macron Seeks to Strengthen France’s 'Strategic' Role in The Middle East

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a Defense Council at Fort de Brégançon with Health Minister Olivier Veran, Admiral Jean-Philippe Rolland, and French Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Entreprises Alain Griset, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a Defense Council at Fort de Brégançon with Health Minister Olivier Veran, Admiral Jean-Philippe Rolland, and French Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Entreprises Alain Griset, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool
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Macron Seeks to Strengthen France’s 'Strategic' Role in The Middle East

French President Emmanuel Macron attends a Defense Council at Fort de Brégançon with Health Minister Olivier Veran, Admiral Jean-Philippe Rolland, and French Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Entreprises Alain Griset, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool
French President Emmanuel Macron attends a Defense Council at Fort de Brégançon with Health Minister Olivier Veran, Admiral Jean-Philippe Rolland, and French Minister Delegate in charge of Small and Medium-Sized Entreprises Alain Griset, in Bormes-les-Mimosas, France August 11, 2021. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard/Pool

When French President Emmanuel Macron moved early to the Fort de Brégançon - the summer residence of French presidents overlooking the Mediterranean - the Elysée circles described his break as “hardworking”, also at the international level.

The Aug. 4 conference, which Macron organized and sponsored in partnership with the United Nations to provide humanitarian aid to Lebanon, demonstrated his continued efforts to extend a helping hand to the crisis-hit country and his insistence on proving the presence of Paris in the Mediterranean land.

It is true that the French president has affirmed, since the Beirut port explosion, his special interest in Lebanon, which he visited twice, and would have visited a third time had it not been for his infection with the Covid-19 at the end of 2020. But Macron has other interests in the region, most notably his participation in the Iraqi Neighborhood Conference in Baghdad, which is expected to be held on Aug. 28. He is also seeking to revive his country’s role in the Iranian nuclear issue.

It should be noted that Macron visited Baghdad in September and received at the Elysée Palace Iraqi President Barham Salih and Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

Paris maintains good old relations with the Kurdistan region. Hence, Macron’s participation in a conference, albeit under a regional name (the Iraq Neighborhood Conference), seems normal to a large extent.

The statement issued by the Elysée Palace after the phone call that took place between Macron and Al-Kadhimi was remarkable, where the latter pointed to the preparations for the conference, which is “organized by Iraq in cooperation and coordination with France.” This means that Macron will not be a “normal” participant, but will assume a greater role.

A group of Iraqi ministers had toured many capitals to send the invitations for the conference, including Riyadh, Ankara, Tehran, Cairo and Amman. While Syria’s presence is excluded and the European and American participations are still unknown, Macron’s attendance would push towards two main outcomes: The first is to motivate some capitals to raise their level of representation, and the second is to make Macron “the mediator”, considering that Western officials such as US President Joe Biden or British Prime Minister Boris Johnson would refuse to participate in a conference that might be attended by the new Iranian president, Ibrahim Raisi.

The French president was the first Western chief to communicate directly with Raisi. This means that Paris is willing to revitalize its position over Iran's nuclear activity, seeking once again to play the role of mediator between Tehran and Washington in an attempt to revive the stagnant Vienna negotiations.

Through his strong and active participation in the conference, Macron will demonstrate his country’s presence and strategic role in this region. To this day, the French military presence in Iraq continues in two areas: training on the one hand, and chasing ISIS remnants on the other.

Paris has always emphasized its adherence to the security and stability of the Gulf region. Macron and his Foreign Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, have repeatedly denounced Iran’s “destabilizing” regional policy, but Paris wants to maintain dialogue with Tehran, as well as reviving the nuclear agreement, which it sees as the most effective way to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power.



Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Seating Plan for a Pope’s Funeral – It’s Complicated, or Compliqué

Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)
Police officers patrol as visitors queue to enter St. Peter's Basilica of the Vatican, viewed in the background, a day prior to the Pope's funeral, in Rome on April 25, 2025. (AFP)

They may be the most powerful people on earth, but for the seating arrangement at Pope Francis' funeral on Saturday, all foreign leaders will play second fiddle to the Argentines and Italians and surrender to the whims of the French alphabet.

About 130 foreign delegations had so far expressed their desire to attend the funeral, the Vatican said on Friday, and more were expected to do so throughout the day. Those include around 50 heads of state who have been confirmed as attending, among them US President Donald Trump and 10 reigning monarchs.

Apart from the VIPs, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend the funeral in St. Peter's Square, which starts at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Saturday. Italian police have laid on one of the most complex security operations in decades.

The official delegations will sit at a section to the right of the altar at the top of the steps leading toward St. Peter's Basilica.

Pride of place goes to Argentina, Francis' native country, whose president, Javier Milei, will sit in the front row. Milei, a maverick right-wing libertarian, had heaped insults on Francis while he was campaigning in 2023, calling him an "imbecile who defends social justice". But the president shifted his tone after he took office that year.

Next comes Italy, the country that surrounds the Vatican and which agreed in 1929 to recognize its sovereignty as the world's smallest state. It gets the second-best seats in the VIP section also because the pope is bishop of Rome and primate of the Catholic bishops of Italy.

That is when the alphabet in French – still considered the language of diplomacy – kicks in for the other delegations. The countries following Italy are ordered according to their names in French and not in their native languages.

So, it is Etats Unis and not United States, Allemagne instead of Deutschland (Germany), and Pays-Bas instead of Nederland (The Netherlands).

Royalty will take precedence. Reigning monarchs -- expected to include royalty such as the kings and queens of Spain and Belgium and Prince Albert of Monaco -- will be seated in front of other heads of state.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said on Friday that no distinction would be made between Catholic and non-Catholic royalty for the seating order. After the royals come the remaining heads of state. Trump, who attracted criticism from Francis because of his immigration policies, will sit ahead of many other leaders because Etats Unis begins with an "E".

That alphabetic logic means that Trump - currently engaged in trying to get a peace deal in the war in Ukraine - will not be sitting near Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Former US President Joe Biden, who has been the target of constant criticism by Trump, is attending the funeral, but will not be part of the official US delegation, a diplomatic source said. This means Biden, a lifelong Catholic, should be sitting further back, with other VIPs.