Experts & Staff

Manuel Lafont Rapnouil

ECFR Alumni · Head, ECFR Paris
Senior Policy Fellow

Areas of expertise

Security crisis management; multilateralism and the United Nations; European foreign policy; transatlantic relations; human rights; international law and justice; Middle East and North Africa; French foreign policy

Languages

French, English, Spanish

Biography

Manuel Lafont Rapnouil was a senior policy fellow and head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations until June 2019. His topics of focus include defence and security affairs, French foreign policy, the UN, and the Middle East and North Africa.  

From 2011 to 2015 Lafont Rapnouil headed the Political Affairs Division of the Department for UN affairs at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development; in this capacity, he was responsible for French foreign policy at the United Nations Security Council, including peacekeeping and sanctions. Prior to that, he held various postings within the French diplomatic service, including in Washington and at the Policy Planning Staff (Centre d’Analyse, de Prévision et de Stratégie). Lafont Rapnouil was also a rapporteur for both French White papers on Defence and National Security and on Foreign and European Policy (2008). From 2008 to 2010, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Europe Programme of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington-based think tank.

Publications

Articles

Can Europe become a nuclear power?

Only if Europeans resume a serious debate about their responsibilities for their own security

Views from the capitals: Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran deal

We asked our national offices to outline how the E3, in cooperation with other EU partners, should respond to the JCPOA pull-out by the US

Views from the capitals: European dreams for 2018

We asked our national offices to outline their governments’ greatest hope and greatest fear for foreign and European policy in 2018. 

France in Flux

The rise of Macron has transformed the French political landscape – but its final shape is still emerging

Views from the capitals: What to do about Turkey?

Can the EU-Turkey relationship be salvaged? Key EU capitals give their views

French elections: The demolition game heats up

So far, this French electoral cycle is something in between a roller coaster and a demolition game. The French political system is accustomed to crushing incumbents, but this time the destruction has been more inclusive.

Specials

Podcasts

In the media