French President Emmanuel Macron has indicated he hopes the Paris Peace Forum, opening on Friday, will set the stage to relaunch the stalled dialogue between Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his opponents. The South American nation remains a key OPEC oil producer as countries weather the global energy crisis.
Macron hosted his Argentinian counterpart Alberto Fernandez and Colombian President Gustavo Petro late Friday afternoon in a meeting on the Venezuelan crisis during the fifth edition of the Paris Peace Forum.
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro sent the president of the National Assembly, Jorge Rodriguez, in his place while the opposition sent Gerardo Blyde.
Macron hopes the two-day forum will push the Maduro camp and the Venezuelan opposition to relaunch the Mexico diplomatic process, which has been stalled for a year.
This would include agreeing on the conditions for organising the next presidential election, theoretically scheduled for 2024.
"Negotiations between the regime and the opposition must resume as soon as possible in Mexico City, first with a humanitarian agreement and then, I hope, with political guarantees," the French President said on Thursday.
"We are going to do our best to be able to support this initiative, this peace work," he added.
A haven for dialogue?
"France can play a key role in the negotiation process," French Latin American MP Eléonore Caroit said, posting a photo on Twitter of her with the two negotiators and French ambassador to Caracas Romain Nadal.
The head of Spanish diplomacy, José Manuel Albares, also met Rodriguez and Blyde in Paris, and gave his support to "the resumption of negotiations".
"We are convinced that the way forward for Venezuela is dialogue, the suspension of all illegal sanctions and respect for the Constitution," Maduro's representative said on Twitter.
The two camps, so far irreconcilable "will talk to each other and, I hope, agree on a method and the steps that will follow", Pascal Lamy, chairman of the Peace Forum, told AFP.
He underlined that the relationship between them was "extremely acrimonious, tense, difficult ... We cannot say what will emerge from this dialogue ... It depends on the instructions on each side".
Lamy added: "The mere fact that they came to us to talk to each other shows that the Paris Forum is beginning to appear as a haven where we can perhaps say things to each other that we don't say to each other elsewhere."
International thaw
In any case, Macron's attempt at mediation is part of a context of relative international thaw with regard to the power of Caracas.
Venezuela had become a pariah in the region, crippled by international sanctions and on bad terms with its neighbours.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro however, has renewed diplomatic relations with Venezuela and wants to normalise ties after a three-year rupture.
France, like the United States and a large number of other countries, did not recognise the re-election of Maduro as president in 2018, during a ballot they accused of being rigged.
France publicly supported opposition leader Juan Guaido when he declared himself interim president in early 2019.
But the multiple American-European sanctions, including an oil embargo from Washington, to push the socialist leader to leave have not worked and Juan Guaido's political weight since waned.
Although it still considers President Maduro illegitimate, the United States reopened a channel of discussion with Caracas, and in May eased some of its sanctions.
Ukraine and the energy crisis
Biden's government has made no secret that Venezuelan hydrocarbons could be useful on the international market in the midst of the energy crisis due to the war led by Russia in Ukraine.
Macron had a brief exchange with Maduro on Monday on the sidelines of the Cop27 on the climate in Egypt.
Calling him "president", the French head of state promised him to call him back to "talk more extensively" and "engage in useful bilateral work for the region".
The Elysée then clarified that Paris still did not recognise Maduro as head of state of Venezuela, but was showing pragmatism.
"We are trying to create a dynamic", the Elysée said, adding "it is with Nicolas Maduro and his regime that we must have a dialogue and that we will try to push for the resumption of negotiations" in order to lead "to fair and transparent elections".
Doors are open
"Excellent handshake with the President of France Emmanuel Macron," Maduro tweeted after the meeting.
"The doors of Venezuela are open for the French people."
Observers on France's left-wing political spectrum were quick to comment on the cynical nature of Macron's move.
French daily Liberation headlined with "Macron's Big U-turn on Maduro's Venezuela".
The leader of France's ultra-left wing France Unbowed party (LFI) Jean-Luc Melenchon tweeted that the "need for oil makes people polite".
A longtime admirer of Venezuela under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, Melenchon said that Macron had "finally" recognised the election of Maduro.
The Paris Peace Forum brings together country leaders, representatives of civil society, NGOs, large companies, cities and large institutions.
