At the Elysée, the long handshake between Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed Ben Salmane, at the heart of a controversial meeting

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The Head of State received the Saudi Crown Prince for dinner at the Elysee Palace on Thursday evening, while the left opposition and several NGOs denounced this meeting.

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It was a reception that created controversy. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Thursday, July 28 with a long handshake the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Ben Salmane, invited for a working dinner at the Elysée Palace in Paris. The Head of State warmly greeted his host, dressed in traditional Saudi attire. It is his first visit to Europe since the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an act for which US intelligence services believe the Saudi crown prince is responsible.

The meeting between Emmanuel Macron and Mohammed Ben Salmane signs a little more the “rehabilitation” of the leader de facto kingdom, less than two weeks after US President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia. This meeting marked the return of the crown prince, nicknamed “MBS”, on the international scene, in a context of war in Ukraine and soaring energy prices.

In response to the anger of human rights defenders, and while two NGOs filed a complaint against “MBS”, the French presidency affirmed that Emmanuel Macron would address the “question of human rights as he does each time with Mohammed Ben Salmane”.

The Elysée affirms that this dinner was necessary, in view of the surge in energy prices, the food crisis in the Middle East and concerns related to the Iranian nuclear program. “If we want to confront each other, tackle the consequences of these crises on the one hand and weigh in the region for the benefit of all, the only way is to speak with all the main players”said the presidency.


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