Macron defends multilateralism at the UN before leaving the Élysée

For his last intervention before the United Nations General Assembly before his departure from the Élysée, Emmanuel Macron defended, on Tuesday, multilateralism in the face of the hardening of international power relations. The French president warned against “the return of imperialism, of arrogance” and against a world marked by “force without rule or restraint”. He called on States to preserve a “civilized international society” by relying on the United Nations.

Emmanuel Macron denounced strategies that call into question borders and state sovereignty. He targeted “those who think that we can undermine the international order to expand our borders” or even “trample on the sovereignty of peoples in order to control it themselves”. He also criticized those who want to “decide the future of the planet, whether it is climate or artificial intelligence”. “The question before us in a very simple way is whether we want to live in this state of nature, with some form of return of the law of the jungle, or in a civilized international society,” he said.

“We must defend justice, the common interest”

The head of state presented the UN as the necessary framework to preserve common rules. “Our duty more than ever is to stand tall alongside the United Nations to decide precisely together on the common interest,” he said. “Where the law of the strongest tries to impose itself, we must defend justice, the common interest,” he added, calling for the organization to be restored to its “vitality”.

On the war in Ukraine, Emmanuel Macron called for a “double moratorium” on strikes targeting energy sites in Russia and Ukraine. He also proposed “a moratorium on the Black Sea” in order to allow the movement of cereals and provide a response to the food security issues affecting many emerging and developing countries.

Fighting the influence of the United States and China

The French president also returned to Gaza, a year after initiating a movement at the UN General Assembly to recognize the State of Palestine. He deplored “a spectacle that shames us all” and questioned the international community. “What is our credibility if we continue to remain inactive against Gaza? » Emmanuel Macron once again defended the two-state solution, which he presented as a condition for the “security of today and tomorrow for Israel and its people”.