Moi, Président: Foreign Policy in the French Election

The FT's Gideon Rachman and the head of ECFR Paris discuss the foreign policy ideas and promises of the lead candidates in the French presidential campaign.

Guests

With:

Gideon Rachman, Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, Financial Times
Manuel Lafont Rapnouil, Head of Paris Office, ECFR

Chaired by

Susi Dennison, Director of European Power Programme, ECFR       

With the nomination on 29 January of the Socialist candidate for the upcoming French election, the lineup of key Presidential hopefuls is now completed. What are Francois Fillon, Benoît Hamon, Marine Le Pen, Emmanuel Macron and Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s – the five candidates leading the polls – foreign policy views? What will be the impact of their election for dossiers such as Russia, counterterrorism, and the Middle East? What will be the impact on the Brexit negotiation?

Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok.

Manuel Lafont Rapnouil (@mlafontrapnouil) is Head of the Paris office and Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR. A career diplomat, he worked mostly on UN and security affairs in his past roles at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development.

Susi Dennison (@sd270) is the Director of the European Power programme and a Senior Policy Fellow at ECFR. Before joining ECFR, Susi worked for Amnesty International and HM Treasury.