He gained’t want a information to get to the eating room. Emmanuel Macron, in fact, shall be ready for him on the steps of the Élysée. However for the remaining, the Emir of Qatar is aware of the best way by coronary heart.
Tamim al-Thani, 43, is considered one of France’s strongest allies within the Arab world. He owns Paris Saint-Germain, this soccer membership within the capital which despairs of sooner or later successful a European court docket, however monopolizes the eye of the media because of its star who’s now heading to new skies of soccer. : Kylian Mbappé, 25 years previous. The captain of the French group may also be current on the dinner for the beginning of this state go to, alongside Nasser al-Khelaïfi, the boss of PSG who, in his nation, is a minister with out a authorities portfolio.
Tamin al-Thani, nevertheless, is just not near Emmanuel Macron. The person he is aware of greatest, within the French political internal circle, is former president Nicolas Sarkozy (2007-2012). The previous tenant of the Élysée has usually been cited to take over as president of Paris Saint Germain, which has not but materialized.
It have to be mentioned that Qatar smells of sulfur for the husband of Carla Bruni: it was throughout a lunch on this identical presidential palace, on November 23, 2010, with the person who was then solely crown prince, and Michel Platini, {that a} pact would have been sealed between the three to assist the attribution of the World Cup to the Emirate. Platini then chaired UEFA, the highly effective European Soccer Federation based mostly in Nyon (VD).
His presence at this well-known lunch subsequently precipitated him a whole lot of bother. The most recent is a grievance for corruption filed in April 2023 by the French affiliation Anticor, focusing on Sarkozy, former Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, and former secretary normal of the Élysée Claude Guéant. The accusations? Affect peddling, corruption of a international public official, legal conspiracy, unlawful financing of an electoral marketing campaign, and concealment of the identical crime.
Enormous actual property heritage
The opposite weighty argument of the Emir of Qatar in France is his actual property belongings. Tamim ben Hamad al-Thani owns, via an organization, an impressive two-story mansion positioned on Sq. de Luynes, within the seventh arrondissement of Paris, a stone’s throw from Boulevard Saint-Germain. Geographical irony: this resort is nearly subsequent to the condominium of a former French Minister of International Affairs.
However watch out: this personal dwelling is simply the tip of the Qatari actual property iceberg. The Emirate additionally owns the Concorde Lafayette, the Louvre lodge in Paris, the Raffles Lodge (previously Royal Monceau), the Peninsula Lodge, plus 35,000 sq. meters on the Champs-Élysées, together with the Élysée buying gallery 26. Ditto for the Hôtel d’Évreux on Place Vendôme and the luxurious Hôtel Lambert on Île Saint-Louis in Paris. In brief: Emmanuel Macron is nearly surrounded. It’s unattainable to not come throughout a Qatari property across the Élysée.
Fuel financial lever
On the monetary and financial aspect, Qatar’s lever is liquefied gasoline, which the Emirate sells to France, considered one of its first clients, the world’s 4th largest importer of LNG. An settlement signed in October 2023 ensures the supply of three.5 million tonnes per 12 months to France over 27 years! Sufficient to acquire a spot of selection amongst Emmanuel Macron’s privileged diplomatic interlocutors within the Center East, the place Qatar is at this time the principle negotiator between Hamas, of which it shelters a number of leaders, and Israel.
The query of Gaza will clearly be on the heart of discussions between the French president and the Emir. However this topic will undoubtedly be mentioned at one other time. For the opening dinner, it might properly be that the conversations concentrate on two different topics: the upcoming departure of Kylian Mbappé from PSG and the refusal of the Paris city corridor to promote the Parc des Princes to the membership the place he performs at dwelling.