It’s a phrase he says “every time he travels on national territory,” almost a mantra: “Foreign affairs are everyone’s business.” The Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot repeated this on Friday, April 17 in Mauguio, Montpellier, and Montferrier, in front of students, elected officials, researchers, and citizens gathered before him. Behind the phrase is a conviction that the minister spent the entire day illustrating concretely: between what is negotiated in the chancelleries and what is experienced in the territories, the border is more porous than one might think.
Diplomacy as a daily affair
The starting point is almost banal, but the minister insists we should not take it lightly. “What happens beyond our borders has very concrete consequences on our daily lives,” he says. The example he chooses is deliberately practical: the price of fuel, directly affected by the war in Ukraine, weighing on households and businesses. One does not 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 nourishes the global.” And this is where his day in Montpellier takes on meaning. It was not just a courtesy visit, but a step-by-step demonstration of how a territory can be “a full-fledged actor in foreign policy,” often without being aware of it.
The visit began at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Herault, in Mauguio, with representatives from the economic world and local authorities. Jean-Noël Barrot unequivocally designated them as “the main partners of the international action that we carry out from the Quai d’Orsay.” A way to bring local and national closer together, on a scale that perceives foreign policy as reserved for decision-makers in the capital.
The minister seized the subject by sharing a vision in which “local authorities are not just relays” but producers of influence. “The close ties woven over the years and decades between peoples are the basis for good relations between their authorities and governments, and thus for peace and stability,” he explains. The formulation is diplomatic in form, but it encapsulates an idea: peace is also built in twinning committee meeting rooms, in university exchanges, and in local economic partnerships.
Twinning, an aged tool of renewed diplomacy
Montpellier has thirteen international twinnings. For some, they seem like vestiges of another era. For Jean-Noël Barrot, they are on the contrary of burning relevance. Asked about pro-Palestinian protests demanding the termination of the twinning with the Israeli city 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 of war’ and wanted to establish new links with the German people. Dialogue must continue.”
The argument is the cornerstone of his entire day’s thinking: the links between peoples precede and survive crises between states. “Local authorities establish human connections through twinning committees, partnership projects with decentralized cooperation, thereby directly contributing to development and therefore to peace,” he summarizes. On the question of whether local authorities should go further, exert pressure on warring parties, the minister is clear: “Each in their role.”
At the ICM, health as a “vector of global influence”
The afternoon brought the minister to the Montpellier Cancer Institute, alongside Mayor Michael Delafosse. The choice of this visit was not random: the health sector is explicitly mentioned among those that Jean-Noël Barrot cites as contributing to the “radiance of France” and “to the recovery of its trade balance,” alongside aeronautics and viticulture.
Upon arrival, Professor Ychou outlined Montpellier’s medical history (“one of the oldest medical faculties in Europe”) before projecting the minister into its present and future: recent therapeutic successes, international partnerships established, ongoing projects. Among them, the AMBER program, “aimed at tackling cancers considered incurable today.” A colossal project, with international scientific ramifications, “but still awaiting completion of funding.” Faced with researchers and officials pointing out this deficiency, the minister took out his phone and sent a live SMS. “We will make progress on all of this.”
