By holding this Thursday, November 12 at the Elysee - half in "face-to-face", half by videoconference - the official ceremony of the Paris Peace Forum, Emmanuel Macron intends to place himself in master of "vaccine diplomacy".
Vaccine diplomacy?
While it is now likely that by the end of the year or the beginning of 2021 we will have one or more vaccines against Covid-19, nothing is, however, guaranteed as to their access across the world.
Considering the price - around 20 dollars (around 17 euros) the expected dose for the Pfizer, for example - and the rate of production which will not be able to meet the needs of all human beings from the outset, it is to be feared that the the poorest half of the planet, starting with Africa, does not have access to it.
However, the stake is enormous, since the vaccination of a population will make it possible to restart its economy.
"Very personally involved", according to an adviser, Emmanuel Macron, stressing that it would be illusory to believe oneself out of chaos if the coronavirus continues to circulate outside rich countries, advocates a vaccine which would be a "global public good".
Avoid "the chaos of spring" on the masks
"The competition will be tough, we risk seeing the reappearance of struggles for influence, such as mask diplomacy in April when China was providing medical equipment to deprived countries, not without ulterior motives," notes Adrien Abécassis, adviser to the Paris Forum .
Hence the importance of having multilateral mechanisms to avoid reliving the chaos of spring ”.
The Head of State is therefore relaunching his initiative, which began in March.
The objective is to supply a fund used to buy future doses of vaccines, as well as to promote their production and their transport everywhere on the planet.
The Elysée is expected to announce funding of 500 million euros, which will be added to the billion already available.
France, alone, will offer this Thursday 100 million euros.
Also contributors (among other countries such as Spain), German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission boss Ursula von der Leyen will participate by videoconference at the summit.
The initiative being co-piloted by the World Health Organization, the Secretary-General of the UN (on which the WHO depends), Antonio Guterres, will also be in line with the Elysee Palace.
Resuscitate multilateral mechanisms
Another important partner, the Gates foundation, represented at the Elysee Palace by Melinda Gates, the wife of the founder of Microsoft, should announce substantial donations.
But neither Russia, which is developing its own vaccines, nor the United States - Donald Trump having withdrawn from the WHO - are in the game. Joe Biden has promised to reconnect with the World Health Organization, and the Gates Foundation has already spoken with the Democratic transition team.
By placing himself at the heart of such an issue, which will dominate the international scene in the coming months, Emmanuel Macron is fully playing the card of influence diplomacy, at a time when America has not yet found all its place.
What about China?
"She has a - small - foot in the project, just to follow what is happening, slips a diplomat.
But it keeps its own strategy of influence, and has already promised to provide its own vaccines to around sixty carefully targeted countries ”.