Saudi's MbS meets France's Macron in Paris amid rights protest

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has met with French President Emmanuel Macron for a working lunch in Paris on Friday, signalling a significant shift in his international standing.

The visit of the 37-year-old, widely known as MbS, comes less than a year after his last visit to the Elysee Palace and underlines the warm relationship between Paris and Riyadh that has irked rights activists in the wake of the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi.

Over their lunch at the Elysee Palace from 11:15 GMT, Macron is also expected to seek support from MbS to find a solution in the search for a new president in Lebanon, a stalemate that is causing increasing exasperation for France.

His stay in France appears set to be a long one, with the crown prince due to attend a Paris summit on a New Global Financing Pact hosted by Macron on 22-23 June.

The prince owns the opulent Chateau Louis XIV near Versailles outside Paris, a modern building that seeks to replicate the look of French imperial palaces.

On Monday, MbS will attend an official Saudi reception for Riyadh's candidacy to host Expo 2030, a bid for which Riyadh wants strong French support.

The bid has faced opposition from human rights groups due to Riyadh's record, but it holds great significance for the kingdom as it coincides with the target year for Vision 2030, MbS's ambitious economic diversification plan.

While Macron aims to bridge the North-South divide exacerbated by the Ukraine war through initiatives like the scheduled summit, MbS will be seeking support for his broader agenda.

A French presidential official, who asked not to be named, told AFP that Paris wanted MbS to understand the scale of the Ukraine conflict and "help us speed up the final outcome of the war, which means a victory for Ukraine on the ground".

"We are going to tell him how important the Ukraine issue is and how Saudi Arabia can exert influence, including on Russia," added the official.

Saudi Arabia's stance of neutrality in the Ukraine conflict has drawn criticism from those who view it as a de facto pro-Russian position, given the kingdom's oil production and its decision to cut output at an OPEC+ summit, which was perceived as a deliberate snub to the US and Europe.

Transactional relationship

Macron's pursuit of arms sales and France's stance toward MbS have drawn criticism for compromising values in exchange for economic gains.

"Macron is basically rolling out the red carpet for Mohammed bin Salman to try to secure arms sales. Macron has really sold France and France’s values for a few golden francs," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), an NGO founded by Khashoggi.

Last year, when MbS made his first visit to Paris since Khashoggi's killing, rights groups - including DAWN -  filed a universal jurisdiction complaint before the Paris tribunal arguing that the Saudi crown prince was allegedly an "accomplice" in the murder of Khashoggi.

In January 2019, Saudi Arabia held trials for 11 Saudi nationals accused of involvement in Khashoggi's murder.

In December 2019, following the proceedings, three defendants were acquitted; five were sentenced to death; and three others were sentenced to prison. The five men sentenced to death were legally pardoned in May 2020 by Khashoggi's children.