Macron ends Gulf tour with Qatar state visit and 295000 tonnes of monthly diesel pledges
UAE and Bahrain commitments equal a tenth of French consumption, president who preached energy transition now shops for fuel to calm Paris protests
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France's Macron begins state visit to Qatar as part of wider Gulf tour
euronews.com
Emmanuel Macron arrived in Doha on Tuesday to cannon salvos and a cavalry procession, concluding a Gulf tour through the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar and Bahrain that has one measurable output: 295,000 tonnes of diesel per month, pledged by Gulf partners including Saudi Arabia, equivalent to just over 10 percent of French consumption.
The French presidency confirmed the UAE and Bahrain committed around 100,000 tonnes each, with the remainder from Riyadh. Macron is accompanied by the chief executives of TotalEnergies and Engie, and his talks with the Emir at Lusail Palace cover energy security, defence, investment and regional stability. TotalEnergies already partners with QatarEnergy on the North Field East LNG expansion, one of the largest such projects in the world.
The trip follows a weekend of violent protests in France over fuel prices and the cost of living, and a Sunday speech in which Macron told the nation he would travel to the Gulf to secure France's energy supplies. His government is now negotiating with fuel distributors to translate the pledges into lower prices at the pump — an explicit link between Gulf state visits and domestic political survival.
The defence dimension is not incidental. France was among Qatar's main defenders during the Iran war, providing fighter jets and other air-defence capabilities, and Doha's framing on Tuesday was pointed: Qatar's foreign ministry described France as a friend and ally and underlined its position 'during the ongoing regional crisis.' During the Emir's 2024 state visit to Paris, Qatar pledged 10 billion euros in investment across energy transition, artificial intelligence, aerospace and healthcare.
A president who has spent years lecturing on climate policy now flies a four-state circuit buying diesel by the hundred-thousand tonnes to keep French motorists off the barricades. The Gulf monarchies, for their part, sell the fuel and buy the defence relationship.