What was the biggest surprise in terms of world affairs this weekend? The sudden collapse of the Bashar al-Assad regime was certainly a bombshell. But perhaps even bigger were the agreeable optics around Donald Trump’s visit to Paris.
Let’s start with the diplomatic activity of French President Emmanuel Macron on the occasion of the reopening of Notre Dame on Saturday (7 December). In spite of his internal predicaments, Macron hit the diplomatic jackpot by bringing to his Elysée office both the US president-elect and Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He calmed EU capitals' fears that Trump would impose his armistice without inviting Kyiv or someone to represent the EU to the table. Diplomats had repeatedly dreaded a Trump-Putin rendezvous in Kazakhstan, which would automatically exclude other stakeholders.
By inviting Trump to the Paris ceremony, Macron evaded precisely such a dark scenario and ensured that a key EU country would not be left out of any future peace deal. It seems, then, that the Ukraine peace process has been coined in the French capital. One might even call it ‘the Notre Dame process’.
Upon his arrival at the Elysée palace, Trump said: "It certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now. And we will be talking about that."
But what Macron, Trump and Zelenskyy actually discussed, well, nobody knows. Reportedly, there were no interpreters or aides present, which is unusual. However, Trump's communication before and after the visit may give us a clue. | 