Call it the unlikely - or unexpected - “special relationship”. France and the US have more than 200 years of common history, and it all started with a love affair, followed by numerous rows and permanent suspicion.
With Francois Hollande being honoured with a state visit to the US both countries celebrate a warmer than usual relationship, a major surprise coming from a French president who is so unpopular at home and was not particularly known for his foreign policy vision or skills.
When most people talk of the “special relationship”, of course, they mean the United Kingdom and its supposed unbreakable link to its former colony, based on a common language and fate, forged on battle fields including the most controversial ones such as Iraq where the French refused to join.
But lately, you have to wonder if the French are taking over the role of the US’s best friend, at least on the European continent? In the past year or so, the US administration has found itself dealing mostly with the French on a number of international hot spots, from Syria to Iran, from African conflicts to the fight against militants.
Surprisingly, the French, who not so long ago were considered “cowards” and “traitors” in Washington (remember the “freedom fries” controversy in Congress?) for refusing to join the Iraq invasion in 2003, were perceived in the last few months to be more interventionists than the US.
This was certainly the case in Syria, where French Rafale fighter jets were already preparing to take off following the chemical weapons attack on the outskirts of Damascus last August, when President Obama unplugged the mission by deciding to consult Congress. The day before, the British Parliament voted against the UK taking part in the planned punitive operation.
The French were taken off guard, unpleasantly surprised by Obama’s sudden U-turn. The invitation to come to Washington was announced in the wake of this unpleasant failure of communication between allies.
Another surprise came a few weeks later when France blocked an initial deal between the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany on one side, Iran on the other side.
On a more traditional vein, French troops moved swiftly in Mali last year to block a column of pro-Al Qaeda militants threatening the capital of this former French colony in West Africa. And French troops moved again, more recently, in the Central African Republic capital, Bangui, to stop massacres in an increasingly failed state.
This activist foreign policy is not new in France, which has a long history of sometimes dubious intervention on the African continent, and still has a capacity of deployment despite budget restrictions. This was however unexpected from Francois Hollande, a socialist who defeated Nicolas Sarkozy in May 2012, by pledging to be a “normal” president.
Hollande surprised everyone, including the French, by showing on foreign policy issues the kind of determination he lacked in domestic affairs. This was apparently noticed also in Washington.
In today’s unpredictable multipolar world, France has emerged as one of the few remaining European nations with the will, and the means, to play an active role on the international stage.