It is a saying he utters “every time he travels within the national territory,” almost like a mantra: “Foreign affairs are everyone’s business.” On Friday, April 17th, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noël Barrot, expressed this in Mauguio, Montpellier, and Montferrier, in front of students, elected officials, researchers, and citizens gathered before him. Behind the phrase lies a conviction that the minister spent the whole day illustrating concretely: the border between what is negotiated in the chancelleries and what is experienced in the territories is more porous than one may think.
Diplomacy as a Daily Affair
The starting point may seem mundane, but the minister insists it should not be taken lightly. “What happens beyond our borders has very concrete consequences on our daily lives,” he says. The example he chose is deliberately practical: the price of fuel directly affected by the war in Ukraine, which impacts households and businesses. No need to be a diplomat to understand that geopolitical tensions have a tangible cost, felt at the pump or on energy bills.
But the minister goes further. If the global affects the local, the local, according to him, “also feeds the global.” And this is where his day in Montpellier takes on meaning. It was not a courtesy visit but a step-by-step demonstration of how a territory can be “a full-fledged actor in foreign policy,” without always being aware of it.
The trip began at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hérault, in Mauguio, with representatives from the business world and local authorities. Jean-Noël Barrot unequivocally designated them as “the first partners of the international action we carry out from the Quai d’Orsay.” A way to bring local and national closer, on a scale that sees foreign policy as reserved for decision-makers in the capital.
The minister seized the subject, sharing a vision in which “local authorities are not mere intermediaries” but producers of influence. “The close ties woven over the years and decades between peoples are the foundation of good relations between their authorities and governments, and thus of peace and stability,” he explains. The wording is diplomatic in form but encompasses an idea: peace is also built in town twinning committees, in academic exchanges, in local economic partnerships.
Twinning, an Old Tool of Renewed Diplomacy
Montpellier has thirteen international twinnings. For some, they resemble relics of another era. For Jean-Noël Barrot, they are instead of burning relevance. Asked about pro-Palestinian demonstrations calling for the severance of twinning with the Israeli town of Tiberias, he chose to respond with history rather than law: “The mayor of Montpellier recalled that the twinning with Heidelberg was initiated by 20-year-olds who, in 1950, said ‘enough war’ and wanted to establish new links with the German people. Dialogue must continue.”
The argument is the keystone of his entire day’s thinking: the links between peoples precede and survive crises between states. “Local authorities establish human connections through town twinning committees, partnership projects with decentralized cooperation, and thus contribute directly to development and therefore to peace,” he summarizes. On the question of whether local authorities should go further, exert pressure on belligerents, the minister is clear: “Everyone in their role.”
At the ICM, Health as a “Vector of Global Influence”
In the afternoon, the minister visited the Montpellier Cancer Institute, with the mayor Michael Delafosse. The choice of this stop was not random: the health sector is explicitly listed among those that Jean-Noël Barrot cites as contributing to “the radiance of France” and “the recovery of its trade balance,” alongside aeronautics and viticulture.
Upon arrival, Professor Ychou traced the medical history of Montpellier (“one of the oldest medical faculties in Europe”) before projecting the minister into its present and future: recent therapeutic successes, international partnerships, ongoing projects. Among them, the AMBER program, “whose ambition is to tackle cancers currently deemed incurable.” A monumental project with international scientific ramifications, “but the funding still needs to be completed.” Faced with researchers and officials pointing out this lack, the minister took out his phone and sent a text message live. “We will move all this forward.”
