'La Francophonie'

The last big international summit held in Quebec required the presence of riot police, as activists descended on the 2001 Summit of the Americas to protest against the policies of President George Bush. His contemporary French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy is unlikely to face the same level of unrest on Friday, as he joins a meeting of sixty-eight (more or less) French-speaking nations. Media coverage has largely focused on the presence or not of his glamorous wife.

However, the meeting of La Francophonie -- an association of nations with links to French culture and language -- sheds light on French diplomatic ambitions, and on related political issues in the host province, Quebec.

Strategic ambitions

Sarkozy would be delighted to be compared to the hero of post-war French politics and the founder of the Fifth Republic, Charles de Gaulle -- though the ways in which his diplomacy has come to resemble de Gaulle’s may give him cause for discomfort. Both rely on rhetoric in the absence of other diplomatic tools, at the cost of inflating expectations perilously.

De Gaulle promoting the Quebecois cause through the 1960s, culminating in his “Long live free Quebec” speech of 1967. The speech marked the height of his attempts to create a ‘third force’ in the Cold War under French leadership, which foundered as the Cold War got colder in 1968.

Support for the Quebecois cause at first alienated the Canadian government to little international gain, and then (once fences were mended in the 1980s) Canada began to rival French influence in the Francophonie, using it as a conduit to improve trade links with Africa.

Contemporary efforts to support the primary goal of the organization –- to preserve the place of French in the world -– have met with mixed success, including attempts to develop television stations and search engines in the French language. Despite the French foreign ministry’s careful attempt to stress the modern nature of the organization as a forum for cultural, economic and scientific co-operation, it retains a post-colonial tinge. France provides most of the organization’s funding, and was imposing its own candidates for leader as recently as 2002.  With colonial links fading (as generations educated in French die off, for instance) the institution must re-invent itself to retain relevance. In concentrating on maintaining its historical sphere of influence, some have argued that France is neglecting opportunities in other parts of the world.

Quebec politics

Meanwhile, change might be afoot in Quebec. Seeking an outright majority in legislative elections, the Canadian Conservatives have voiced public support for Quebecois demands, including their status as a ‘nation’. While such tactics might be to Quebecois sovereigntists’ long-term advantage (leaving one-nation Federalism with few defenders) they alarm the movements’ supporters in the short term as its members see their seats threatened.

Under these conditions, Quebecois politicians might have hoped for support from their old patron. However, Sarkozy has a greater streak of Atlanticist pragmatism than his predecessor the General, and in May stressed his ‘love for all of Canada’. The stage is set for Friday, then, when Sarkozy makes an unprecedented address to the Quebec National Assembly on Friday and might well use his time to highlight the limits of Paris’ support to French-speaking Canada.