Newsbook | France's role in Libya

The welcome return of French diplomacy

France's leading role in the military action against Libya marks quite a comeback

By S.P. | PARIS

THE success of yesterday's Paris summit in securing international backing for the military strikes on Libya marks quite a comeback for French diplomacy. Just two months ago, France was offering another Arab autocrat, in Tunisia, help controlling rebellion. Last week's farcical miscommunication over France's recognition of the Libyan rebels pointed to ongoing confusion about who was really running its foreign policy. But President Nicolas Sarkozy's “summit in support of the Libyan people”, which united European, American and some Arab leaders, was hard to fault. Less than two hours later, French fighter planes were in the sky heading for Libyan airspace, followed by the British and Americans. From left to right, the French political class has applauded.

What explains this abrupt turnaround? On a political level, Mr Sarkozy badly wanted to restore the credibility of French diplomacy after failing to read the Arab uprisings in Tunisia and then Egypt. Last month, he had to get rid of his foreign minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, after she not only offered French security “savoir faire” to the Tunisian regime just days before it fell, but then failed to explain her links to a businessman close to the deposed rulers. French diplomats have been mortified by the damage this did to the country's standing. Moreover, Mr Sarkozy had personal reasons to want to turn the screws on Colonel Muammar Qaddafi, who last week called him a “clown”, and whose son, Saif al-Islam, alleged without evidence that Libya had helped to finance his 2007 presidential-election campaign (a claim denied by the Elysée).

Another factor has been the arrival of Alain Juppé to replace Ms Alliot-Marie. A former prime minister, and one-time foreign minister, he has brought heavyweight experience to the job. Initially hesitant about intervening militarily, he laid down various conditions for backing the establishment of a no-fly zone over Libyan airspace: it would need the international legitimacy of a clear United Nations Security Council resolution; it should not be a NATO operation because of the Alliance's image in the Arab world as an American tool; it would need at least symbolic Arab military participation; and it would require an explicit call from the Arab world.

Last week, Mr Juppé cancelled a trip to Berlin at the last moment to fly to New York to plead France's case in person at the UN Security Council on March 17th. (The speech carried distinct echoes of that by Dominique de Villepin, a former foreign minister, who argued just as passionately against military intervention in Iraq in 2003.) By the time resolution 1973 was passed, and with the nod of the Arab League, all of Mr Juppé's conditions had been, broadly, met. The Paris summit tied up the loose ends, and supplied non-Western legitimacy, however symbolic. On French television a few hours after French fighter jets had begun to strike Libyan tanks, Mr Juppé spoke persuasively and calmly of “calculated risks”, and the restoration of French honour in defending its values.

As always with diplomacy, and never more so than when it comes to the mercurial Mr Sarkozy, there was also an element of opportunism. The French president is deeply unpopular in the polls, and faces a presidential election next year. He had long been hoping to use foreign affairs to boost his standing, as he did when France held the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008.

This time, he used his opportunities wisely. He sensed American hesitation about leading another operation in the Arab world, and turned this to his advantage by putting France in the driving seat alongside the British. Germany's abstention over the Security Council resolution at first irritated the French, but also handed them an opportunity to take the lead. The strange role of Bernard-Henri Lévy, a left-wing philosopher and media celebrity, who telephoned Mr Sarkozy from Benghazi to urge him to back the rebels, seems to have played a part too. For once, Mr Sarkozy's personal political interests coincided with national and international ones.

The atmospherics in Paris have changed almost overnight. Politicians of all stripes, including on the left, have praised France's action. Even Mr de Villepin, a rival to Mr Sarkozy on the Gaullist right, said that “France has lived up to its ideals.” The French are feeling good about themselves as a country that has done the right thing diplomatically for arguably the first time since ex-President Jacques Chirac and Mr de Villepin declared that they would veto a UN Security Council resolution authorising intervention in Iraq. Whether this lasts is another matter. Although Mr Juppé made it clear that this is not a ground operation, nobody knows how long or how tough it will turn out to be. French public opinion is enjoying a renewed sense of national respect, but has not—yet—been prepared for a long and messy war.

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