This week’s 74th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 74) attracted international attention as world leaders expressed their views on the most pressing global issues. French President Emmanuel Macron delivered his speech on Tuesday, Sept. 24, highlighting the foreign policy priorities that France wishes to address. Following this year’s UN Climate Action Summit, Macron opened his remarks by denouncing the international community’s lack of cooperation efforts concerning the climate crisis. He called on states to take more concrete action and declared that change is vital to tackle the issue adequately. Macron said the European Union is responsible for creating a sustainable environment. He added that the EU needs to impose strenuous carbon taxes — a controversial remark given the yellow-vest protests that took place last year, partially as a result of increased fuel taxes. The French leader also denounced the current economic system as “dysfunctional,” citing economic, health, and gender inequalities.

Nevertheless, Macron stressed the importance of multilateralism in the face of nationalist tendencies, countering one of US President Trump’s earlier remarks of how the future does not belong to “globalists” but “patriots.”Also, Macron positioned himself as the middleman in recent tensions between Tehran and Washington, a role he first assumed after meeting Iran’s leader Hassan Rouhani shortly before his speech. In light of the latest Saudi oil facility attacks — which Iran has been blamed for by the US, Britain, France, and Germany.

President Macron urged negotiations to resume. He said the countries involved with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) should strive to achieve the following goals: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, ending the crisis in Yemen, reaching a regional security plan regarding other local crises and their impact on maritime flow security, and ending imposed economic sanctions. Mr. Macron claimed that the crises we are experiencing are not resolved by nationalist withdrawal.

“We must reinvent a strong, pragmatic multilateralism. There are no solutions without cooperation … but this cooperation must produce concrete results, engage new actors,” he concluded.

By Alizé Utteryn

Photos: James Hercule