I have often reported that the BRICS, which are largely ignored by Western media, are becoming increasingly powerful and attractive to the rest of the world. Currently, about 30 states want to join the association, which has set itself as one of its main goals to exclude the dollar from its intergovernmental trade.
This development carries the risk of economic isolation of the West in the medium or long term, which French President Macron has recognized. Therefore, he is trying to be invited to the upcoming BRICS summit. His second goal is the openly announced desire for a division of the BRICS, because he offers talks with BRICS countries to the exclusion of Russia.
South Africa, which currently chairs the BRICS, has not yet commented on Macron's wishes.
The Russian news agency TASS reported on all this and I translated the TASS message.
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Pascal Hérault, columnist for the newspaper l'Opinion, said that the attempt to attend the meeting of the closed BRICS club is a sign of France's desire to keep its allies like the heads of state and government of Brazil and India.
French President Emmanuel Macron is considering participating in the upcoming BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Johannesburg in August and has already consulted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa about it. This was reported by the newspaper l'Opinion on Monday, citing a source in the Elysée Palace.
According to the source, Macron has this possibility on the 3rd. June in a telephone conversation with President Ramaphosa. The request was "surprising for his colleague, who will take time to discuss it with his BRICS partners," it says. "Participation in this summit was actually mentioned in the conversation between the two heads of state, but Pretoria did not indicate whether it would like to extend this meeting to other international heads of state," the source said.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna will soon travel to South Africa. It cannot be ruled out that she will address the topic. In addition, Macron could repeat his demand for participation in the BRICS summit and the summit on a new global financial pact. This will take place on the 22nd and 23rd. June in Paris, and as the newspaper writes, Ramaphosa will participate in the event.
According to columnist Pascal Hérault, the attempt by Paris to participate in the meeting of the closed BRICS club shows Macron's desire to preserve allies such as the Brazilian and Indian heads of state. The Elysee Palace has clearly recognized the political and economic challenges in the era of confrontation between China and the USA, which is redesigning the world trade routes. A number of countries are already knocking on the door of the BRICS, including Argentina, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates," writes the expert.
"The dominance of the dollar and the sanctions imposed by the USA have an impact on the geopolitical level and on the financing of the economies of the South," an adviser to the French head of state told the publication. "This leads to tensions and dissatisfaction, including in the European countries, whose companies are also affected by the extraterritorial laws of the USA. We see that the BRICS are gaining more and more power. France and the EU should enter into a dialogue with this organization at a very high level."
The financial conference planned for the end of June in Paris is to be the next platform for this dialogue, on which France is trying to bring together the BRICS members with the exception of Russia. The aim of the event is to agree on the reform of the global financial system and to develop proposals, which should then be discussed in other dialogue forums, according to the newspaper. At the same time, Paris wants to listen carefully to China's proposals, which calls for debt relief for African countries and expects the international financial institutions to agree to take the first step.
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