FEATURED COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS

Despite UK Vote, France Backs Action in Syria

New Atlanticist
Jul 16, 2025

Reading between the lines of the new France-UK nuclear entente

By
Léonie Allard

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer released a “truly historic” declaration on nuclear planning on July 10.

France
Nuclear Deterrence

Despite UK Vote, France Backs Action in Syria

New Atlanticist
May 2, 2025

France’s foreign minister on Europe’s role in the ‘new era of multilateralism’

By
Daniel Hojnacki

Jean-Noël Barrot laid out his vision of European strategic autonomy and cautioned Washington against pulling back from the multilateral system it helped build.

Economy & Business
European Union

Despite UK Vote, France Backs Action in Syria

Transcript
Apr 24, 2025

France’s François Villeroy de Galhau on a US recession: ‘Bad news for the US is bad news for all, including for Europe’

By
Atlantic Council

The governor of the Banque de France, speaking at the Atlantic Council, said that the European Central Bank would likely cut interest rates further this year.

Europe & Eurasia
European Union

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Content

President of France Francois Hollande

NATOSource

Aug 30, 2013

Despite UK Vote, France Backs Action in Syria

By David Gauthier-Villars, Wall Street Journal

France sent a clear signal on Friday that it was preparing strikes against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, with President François Hollande saying the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons against its own people cannot go unpunished.

France International Organizations
USAF KC-135R Stratotanker at Incirlik air base

NATOSource

Aug 28, 2013

Turkey may Open İncirlik Base for NATO Mission in Syria

By Murat Yetkin, Hurriyet Daily News

Turkey may open its strategic İncirlik air base for possible military operations into neighboring Syria, if the Western defense alliance NATO decides for an intervention in the ongoing civil war, a ranking Turkish official told the Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 26.

France Germany
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

NATOSource

Aug 26, 2013

Syria: Russia Dooms Hopes of UN Security Council Resolution

By Raf Sanchez and Roland Oliphant, Telegraph

As the US, Britain and France edged closer to approving strikes in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons, the Kremlin said that the West was moving down “a very dangerous path.”

France International Organizations
Meeting of the North Atlantic Council

NATOSource

Aug 26, 2013

NATO Members Could Act Against Syria Without UN Mandate

By Ian Traynor, Guardian

Barack Obama is unlikely to have much trouble mustering a Nato coalition of the willing if Washington opts for military intervention in Syria in response to the alleged chemical weapons atrocities by the Assad regime.

France Germany
"A reaction that could take the form of a reaction with force"

NATOSource

Aug 22, 2013

France Calls for Force if Chemical Arms Confirmed in Syria

By AFP and Wall Street Journal

France is seeking a reaction with “force” if a massacre in Syria involving chemical weapons is confirmed, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday, although he ruled out the use of ground troops.

France International Organizations

New Atlanticist

Aug 19, 2013

Hollande Finds Confidence, Vision, and Voice—Now It’s the French People’s Turn

By Nicholas Dungan

Earlier today, President François Hollande provided what many had been waiting for since his inauguration a year ago: a confident vision of the future and a clear idea of France’s place in it. It would be easy, but erroneous, to underestimate how big a difference this change of discourse can make.

Economy & Business France
Coat of arms of Eurocorps

NATOSource

Aug 19, 2013

Europe: Strategic Drifter

By Jakub Grygiel, National Interest

The European Union is a strategic drifter, unclear about its world role, unable to articulate a purpose and divided in its perception of external threats.

Eastern Europe Europe & Eurasia

New Atlanticist

Jul 11, 2013

How France ‘Set the Standard’ for Crisis Intervention

By Julian Lindley-French

A very senior British general said of Operation Serval in Mali that France had “set the standard” for crisis military interventions. Praise indeed and not easily given. One can always tell when a crisis is being managed to effect as the press lose interest.

France Sahel

New Atlanticist

Jul 2, 2013

Snowden: Why France is Angry

By Julian Lindley-French

It was as predictable, subtle and French as a first tasting of a Chassagne Montrachet Premier Cru – full of hidden complexity and fascinating ‘notes’. French President Hollande’s condemnation of Edward Snowden-alleged American spying in Europe was dramatically shrill. “We cannot accept”, the President thundered, “…this kind of behaviour between allies and partners”, before going […]

Economy & Business France

Event Recap

Jun 4, 2013

Strategy Session on the French Defense White Paper

On June 4, the Atlantic Council hosted Brigadier General Bruno Caïtucoli, defense attaché at the Embassy of France in Washington, DC, for a strategy session on the French White Paper on Defense and National Security.

France
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Marie Jourdain

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Erwan Lagadec

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

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Jeffrey Lightfoot

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Transatlantic Security Initiative

English Europe & Eurasia

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Laure Mandeville

Nonresident Senior Fellow

Europe Center

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Leo Michel

Nonresident Senior Fellow

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Assistant Director

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