Some of the diplomatic crises of recent months and weeks should have been resolved in Rome at the bilateral meetings held over the G20 summit, but discussions promise to drag on to Glasgow and could eclipse the purpose of the meeting.
After a brief visit to Pomegranate, regarding the G20 summit and with multiple bilateral meetings in between, the main world leaders move to Glasgow, in Scotland, where they will participate in the climate summit promoted by the United Nations. After days of numerous diplomatic contacts, on the most varied issues, it would be expected that everyone would return to the respective more enlightened about the opinions of allies, partners and enemies, but that does not seem to be the scenario. In the antechamber of the COP26, the atmosphere was of tension.
For example, one of the hot topics in international and European politics, the dispute between France and UK regarding licenses and respective areas of fishing – which has already led to seizures of a British vessel – was naturally discussed. After days with threats from both sides, with Boris Johnson to publicly admit the possibility of taking formal action against France under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement, the leaders of the two countries met in person in Rome.
It turns out that even the communications that resulted from the meeting – which will have lasted an hour and a half – seem to exist disagreements. At first, the message issued by the French delegation reflects the will of both parties to reach a common path that would allow the dispute to be resolved. According to those responsible french, the two countries would have agreed on measures “practical and operational”. “On our part, there is an opening for the reduction of tension between the two countries in the next few hours”, he said.
But apparently Boris Johnson’s team has not received (or understood) the message. A spokesman for the British prime minister even said that the parties had not reached any deal about this matter and that there were no plans formal for more meetings.
“I had the opportunity to read some news on the subject. It will be up to the French decide whether they want to abandon the threats made in recent days related to a possible breach of Brexit protocol. Obviously, we would see with good eyes if they are available to deconstruct the escalation of tension”, explained the British official.
Asked about possible future meetings, the same spokesperson sent answers again to the french side. “If the French government wishes to clarify the agreements and the steps it intends to take on this path, towards the normalization of the process that they insist on extreme, we will also be receptive.”
Still, Downing Street did not explain why the French entourage left the meeting with the British with such different feelings.
Before the meeting, Clement Beaune, French minister with the portfolio of Europe, used his Twitter account to insinuate that the UK was doing “political choices” through the fisheries area, as in the 1700 licenses issued by the British authorities so that European vessels can operate in their waters, 40% of French requests were refused. Boris Johnson’s office denied the charge.
“We had the opportunity to see some comments made by Clément Beaune which are completely false and which concerned our decisions to grant fewer licenses to French vessels. We adopt a reasonable, evidence-based approach, to all requests, regardless of the Member State from which they originate.”
What seemed to be a resolved issue – or halfway through the resolution – is, after all, still reason to antagonism. In all his statements, Boris Johnson – as the representative of the organizing country – tried to minimize the possibility that the issue schedule the COP26, considering that the subjects that will be dealt with there are of greater relevance, especially in the long term. Still, it is expected that Emmanuel Macron don’t drop the topic, as well as their ministers.
On another front, also involving the French, the G20 summit and the COP26 itself could be stages for fruitful dialogue, but so far, without clear progress. In question, the AUKUS pact, which joins Australia, USA and United Kingdom in areas such as security, defense, technology, science and diplomacy.
What caused discontent, especially at the Elisha – in addition to being taken by surprise – was the first initiative of this alliance: helping Australia obtain a fleet of submarines powered by nuclear energy and create an infrastructure to maintain and develop it. This is only the second time that the US will share its nuclear propulsion technology for this type of vessel – the first cooperation was with the UK.
At the heart of the matter is an agreement reached in 2016 between the Australian Government and the French company Naval Group, in which the renewal of the submarine fleet in exchange for 31 billion euros – at the time it was nicknamed “military agreement of the century”. Faced with the trilateral alliance, the deal – which also took the form of a military agreement for providing for cooperation between the defenses of the two countries – was direct To the garbage.
All this generated tension between allied countries. Jeans-Yves Le Drian, the French foreign minister, characterized the agreement as a “stab in the back” and compared the move to the posture of the former US president, Donald Trump. “This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr. Trump used to do. I am angry and bitter. This is not done between allies.”
Joe Biden seems to have taken note of the words and, in order to distance himself from his predecessor, he did something that he would hardly do: recognized the error. After a meeting with Macron m Roma, Biden made the mea-culpa and even admitted that the way the process went was “clumsy”.
“I think what happened, to use an English expression, is that what we did was clumsy. was not done very elegantly. I had the impression that certain things had happened, and in the end they didn’t”, he admitted. The president of the United States, in a clear effort to recover relationships to the levels at which they were previously, he added that France is a partner “extremely valuable” and a “power in itself”.
Macron, in turn, spoke of an “important” meeting and, in the statement to journalists, preferred look to the future in restoring diplomatic confidence between the two countries. “What really matters now is what we’re going to do together in the coming weeks, months, years.” Even so, the French president there let slip evidence of his resentment. “Trust is like love: statements are good, but tests are better”, shot.
It is in this hot climate, one could say, that world leaders, among other parallel polemics, are preparing to discuss whether limit global temperature rise at 1.5 compared to pre-industrial levels is still possible.
