The new broom Hollande

By Shen Xiaoquan

China.org.cn, May 28, 2012

As the saying goes, "a new broom sweeps clean." The French new broom Francois Hollande recently participated in three diplomatic events since he was elected as president on May 15. He met with Germen Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on May 15, attended the Group of Eight (G8) Summit in Camp David in the U.S. on May 18 and later flied to Chicago for the NATO summit. His busy schedule gave the press an opportunity to observe France's new leader's diplomatic concepts and policies. Media in Paris commented that Hollande brought a new look to French diplomacy.

Hollande's diplomacy focuses on two issues: One is the euro zone crisis; the other is the troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. Both issues affect France's relationships with two of its major international partners: Germany and the U.S. The two partnerships form the basis of France's diplomacy.

Initial victory at G8

Before he was elected, Hollande had questioned the EU's financial contract with member states for resolving the sovereign debt crisis. In January, he asked for a renegotiation on this contract that was accepted by the vast majority of the EU countries.

According to Hollande, articles on stimulating growth must be included in this contract like those on strengthening the fiscal discipline of EU member states. Otherwise, France would block it. But Merkel flatly rejected Hollande's proposal. Their sharp opposition has caused concern for potential tensions between the two countries.

Shortly after his inauguration on May 15, Hollande visited Germany and met with Merkel. Both expressed their own views while keeping the door open to further negotiation. Both agreed to discuss the issue again at the EU summit to be held in late May. From the Berlin meeting, we can see that the essence of their divergence is the priority whether to reduce deficit or promote growth. Hollande's proposal reflected a wide concern that countries like Greece, Spain and Italy could not bear the growing pressure of austerity policies.

The euro zone crisis and Greece's potential exit have also dominated the G8 Summit agenda. Hollande's view gained supports from U.S. President Barack Obama and many other leaders, making Merkel to look somewhat isolated at the summit. In their summit communiqué, leaders said that bolstering economic growth and job creation was critical to the global economic recovery. Hollande proudly announced at a press conference after the summit that he wasn't the only one to have the desire for growth, and his mandate by the French public had been honored.

On the Greece issue, Hollande, together with other leaders, pledged to have Greece remain in the euro zone while respecting its commitments. A strong and cohesive euro zone is important to global stability and economic recovery. According to Le Figaro, Hollande's debut on the global stage claimed an initial victory.

Hollande's flexibility

The NATO Summit in Chicago is crucial to Obama because ending the Afghan War honorably tops his agenda. Hollande proposed to withdraw French troops ahead of schedule, which set a new trend in the Franco-U.S. relations.

According to an agreement signed by former President Nicolas Sarkozy and his U.S. counterpart, French troops along with the allied troops would withdraw from Afghanistan in phases starting from 2014. But Hollande pledged to withdraw all French troops by the end of this year. This change put Obama in an awkward situation because it not only upset the original plan, but also could cause a chain reaction in other allied countries. Of course, Obama would not agree with Hollande on his plan. But any escalating of divergence will negatively affect the NATO summit and Obama's bid for his second term as U.S. president.

Luckily, negotiations before the summit were successful. On May 19, Hollande and Obama as well as respective defense ministers held talks in Washington. Hollande emphasized that his plan of an early withdrawal has been made after a full negotiation with the allies. Considering the technical and diplomatic needs, only part of the combat troops, not the whole, will pull out from Afghanistan. The rest will stay until the supplies and materials have been transported safely and the mission of training local armies and policemen are completed, Hollande declared in a conciliatory tone after the summit. French Defense Minister Le Drian also said that the French troops' pullout would not affect the NATO "unity." They have not left the allied troops. Thanks to Hollande's flexibility on this issue, a row had been avoided and a consensus was reached at the NATO summit.

Hot west, cold east

Hollande's diplomatic performance on the three occasions implies that the French diplomacy turns its focus to the West rather than to the East.

Located to the east of France, Germany has a big dispute with France on solutions to the euro zone crisis. Without a compromise, the two parties would not be able to reach an agreement, and that would weaken the function of their alliance as an engine in Europe. The two countries' relationship is not only important to the development of themselves, but also to the EU, which is in need of a great political leadership to get out of the crisis.

To the west is the U.S. Former President Sarkozy was considered a pro-U.S. politician. During his term, the U.S. and France broke the stalemate caused by the Iraq War and later France returned to integrated military structure of NATO. Although Hollande is not as much a U.S. supporter as his predecessor, he gained Obama's backing on the euro zone crisis and his understanding on French troops' pullout from Afghanistan. Both have shown that the France-U.S. relationship is headed to solidity. Not long ago, in an interview with U.S. media, Hollande said that although it's important to keep the French diplomacy unconstrained, he would not have wanted to cause President Obama any trouble. Therefore, some analysts said that Hollande will not change the "pro-U.S. route" followed by Sarkozy.

This "hot west, cold east" phenomenon may be superficial and temporary, but it does show the new president's diplomatic philosophy: to keep the coherence of the country's foreign policies; to show insistence on matters concerning the economy and its people's livelihood; and to show flexibility on defense issues concerning U.S. interests. This is the pragmatic diplomacy of Hollande who styled himself as "Mr. Normal" during the election campaign.

The author is a researcher and senior editor at the International Affairs Research Center of Xinhua News Agency.

(This article was written in Chinese and translated by Li Shen.)

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn

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