{"id":14978,"date":"2026-05-15T07:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/14978\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T07:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T07:29:09","slug":"france-outpaced-in-africa-by-china-turkiye-and-us-macron","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/14978\/","title":{"rendered":"France outpaced in Africa by China, T\u00fcrkiye and US: Macron"},"content":{"rendered":"

France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 13, 2026. (AFP Photo)<\/p>\n

\nMay 15, 2026 10:06 AM GMT+03:00\n<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron said France has lost ground in Africa to competitors including China, T\u00fcrkiye and the U.S., citing what he described as decades of complacency and arrogance by French institutions and companies.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the closing session of the \u201cAfrica Forward\u201d business forum, Macron said France had been \u201cshaken up in Africa\u201d over the past 25 years.<\/p>\n

He described the trend as \u201cnormal\u201d and even positive, while urging France to build a new relationship with African countries based on equality and partnership.<\/p>\n

\"France's
\n<\/p>\n

\nFrance’s President Emmanuel Macron (R) attends a trilateral meeting with United Nations’ Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (not seen) and African Union Commission’s President Mahamoud Ali Youssouf at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, May 13, 2026. (AFP Photo)\n<\/p>\n

French influence declines in Africa<\/p>\n

Macron said French companies and administrations had depended too heavily on France\u2019s historical links with African countries and failed to remain competitive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey believed there was a reserved sphere where being French meant everything was automatically open,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n

The French president said African countries were making rational economic decisions by choosing more competitive partners. He highlighted the growing role of Beijing and Ankara across the continent, saying France had been outpaced by rivals including China, T\u00fcrkiye and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Macron\u2019s remarks reflected his view that France\u2019s position in Africa had weakened because French institutions and companies assumed past relationships would continue to provide automatic advantages.<\/p>\n

He said Africa no longer accepts a model based only on aid or on outside powers dictating solutions for African markets.<\/p>\n

Macron calls for equal partnership<\/p>\n

Macron called for what he described as a \u201cconceptual revolution,\u201d saying France should abandon a \u201cvertical logic\u201d centered on providing aid and instead adopt a relationship with African countries built on equality and partnership.<\/p>\n

He said the new approach should focus on \u201cco-investing, co-producing and co-inventing\u201d with African nations.<\/p>\n

His comments emphasized the need for France to move away from a top-down approach and toward cooperation with African countries as partners.<\/p>\n

Macron also underlined Africa\u2019s economic potential, saying the continent\u2019s growth has surpassed that of Southeast Asia in recent years.<\/p>\n

He said the shift in France\u2019s position in Africa should be seen as a reason to rethink its approach rather than only as a setback.<\/p>\n

The French president said France needed to respond to changing realities on the continent, where African governments and markets are increasingly choosing partners based on competitiveness rather than historical ties.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

May 15, 2026 10:06 AM GMT+03:00<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France’s President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a press conference at the African Union (AU) headquarters in Addis Ababa,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14979,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5],"class_list":{"0":"post-14978","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-france"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14978","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}