Rustam Karakhanli writes…
Three ministers of Armenian origin will be represented in the new French government. In the new cabinet announced by the Macron administration, Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet will hold the posts of Labour and Employment, Guillaume Gasparyan of Public Service and Transformation, and Antoine Armand of Economy, Finance and Industry. It is no secret that the new Prime Minister Michel Barnier and the Minister of the Interior Bruno Retayo are clearly pro-Armenian. They illegally entered the territory of Azerbaijan in 2021 and visited the separatists in Khankendi. Both have been declared undesirable persons in Azerbaijan. They are on our blacklist.
The identity of the portfolio holders in the new composition of the cabinet is not only the influence of the Armenian factor on the Elysee Palace, but also an indicator of Macron’s impotence in the face of internal and external political problems. The allocation of strategic posts such as the Ministers of Labor and Employment, Economy, Finance and Industry to Armenians can be seen as the fact that the daily life of the ordinary citizen is completely dependent on the Armenian diaspora. The new appointment to the post of Minister of Public Service and Transformation is an official recognition that the state apparatus is already in the hands of Armenians.
Prime Minister Michel Barnier has already stated that France has a debt of 3 trillion euros. Undoubtedly, this debt has a complex negative effect on all activities of the state, from the social sphere to foreign policy. It turns out that at the most difficult and fateful moment of his career, Macron entrusts the Armenians with the task of trying to solve the problems he faced. As they say, they send the reliable and proven to the toughest battle. Of course, in exchange for something.
Another important point is that Sébastien Lecorno will continue to serve as Minister of Defence, as he did in the previous government. During Lecornon’s time, there were intense military contacts with Armenia and agreements with militaristic content were signed. Lecorno visited Yerevan and is one of the main figures in the process of transferring French-made weapons to Armenia.
The fact that France’s critical state posts are no longer pro-Armenian, but directly entrusted to Armenians, indicates that the anti-Azerbaijani and anti-Turkish overtones in this country’s foreign policy will become even darker. Here we are not only talking about the already tense relations of Paris directly with Baku and Ankara. France remains active on the Ukrainian front and in the processes in the South Caucasus that are of interest to Azerbaijan. For example, the role of official Paris in increasing internal pressure against the government, which refuses to strengthen relations with the West because of a risky confrontation with Russia in neighboring Georgia, is not small. Today, in general, when we talk about the influence of the West in our region, we should single out two countries: the United States and France, which dominates the European Union. The United States imposes sanctions on Georgia, and the EU freezes all its projects with Tbilisi.
We must not forget that the President of Georgia is a citizen of France and once worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of this country. The election of Salome Zurabishvili as President was considered one of the great geopolitical successes of official Paris of that period. It is interesting that Zurabishvili was the candidate in the presidential elections of the ruling party “Georgian Dream”, now suppressed by the West. In the elections he faced the strongest opposition from Grigol Vashadze, the candidate of the pro-Western former President Mikheil Saakshavili. Zurabishvili, who won the tense electoral process, now turns his back on the ruling party and supports the opposition. It cannot be ruled out that this U-turn meets the expectations of the West and, more precisely, of Paris.
Thus, if we take into account that Armenia is already a protégé of France, next month we will witness the involvement of Paris, representing the collective West, in the bitter struggle for Georgia. Next month, parliamentary elections will be held in the neighbouring state. This conflict will not be limited to one country, but will also be an attack on French control of logistics routes in our region. Not to mention Paris’ practice of blocking any initiative concerning the Zangezur corridor in a situational alliance with Tehran and the initiator of channeling huge amounts of funds to Armenia’s transport infrastructure (India-Iran-Armenia-Black Sea-Europe route) through the EU.
