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Gérard Araud

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Gérard Araud
Gérard Araud in 2011
Ambassador of France to the United States
In office
18 September 2014 – 9 July 2019
PresidentFrançois Hollande
Emmanuel Macron
Preceded byFrançois Delattre
Succeeded byPhilippe Étienne
Permanent Representative of France
to the United Nations
In office
15 July 2009 – 15 July 2014
PresidentNicolas Sarkozy
François Hollande
Secretary-GeneralBan Ki-moon
Preceded byJean-Maurice Ripert
Succeeded byFrançois Delattre
Ambassador of France to Israel
In office
2003–2006
PresidentJacques Chirac
Preceded byJacques Gabriel Huntzinger
Succeeded byJean-Michel Casa [fr]
Personal details
Born (1953-02-20) 20 February 1953 (age 71)
Marseille, France
SpousePascal Blondeau
EducationLycée Thiers
Alma materÉcole Polytechnique
ENSAE ParisTech
Sciences Po
École nationale d'administration
ProfessionDiplomat

Gérard Araud (born 20 February 1953) is a retired French diplomat who served as Ambassador of France to the United States from 2014 to 2019. He previously served as Director General for Political and Security Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2006–2009) and France's permanent representative to the United Nations (2009–2014).

Early life and education

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Gérard Araud was born in Marseille.[1] He holds engineering degrees from the École Polytechnique (class of 1973) and ENSAE. Araud, who also graduated from the Sciences Po, is an alumnus of the École nationale d'administration (class of 1982).

Career

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Araud's first posting was at the embassy of France in Tel Aviv as First Secretary, from 1982 to 1984. He was then assigned to Paris, at the Analysis and Policy Planning Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was responsible for Middle East issues. From 1987 to 1991 he was Counselor at the Embassy of France in Washington, where he was also responsible for Middle East issues. He was Assistant Director of European Community Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1991 to 1993 and became Diplomatic Advisor to the French Minister of Defense François Léotard in 1993.

Araud joined the French delegation to the North Atlantic Council (NATO) in Brussels in 1995 as Deputy Permanent Representative. He became Director for Strategic Affairs, Security and Disarmament at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2000. He was Ambassador of France to Israel from 2003 to 2006.[2]

In September 2006, Araud was appointed Director General for Political Affairs and Security, Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On July 15, 2009, he was appointed Permanent Representative of France to the Security Council and Head of the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations. He presented his credentials to Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General, on 10 September 10, 2009.[3] He served as the President of the Security Council in February 2010, May 2011, August 2012, and December 2013.

On July 23, 2014 Araud was appointed Ambassador of France to the United States by presidential decree.[4]

On the night of the election of Donald Trump as president, Araud tweeted: "It is the end of an era, the era of neoliberalism. We don't yet know what will succeed it," followed by: "After Brexit and this election anything is possible. A world is collapsing before our eyes. Vertigo." Reading this as an undiplomatic expression of dismay at the result, right-wing French political activists called for Araud's dismissal,[5][6] which did not occur.

On Pearl Harbor Day in 2017, Araud lodged a political insult against the United States by issuing a tweet that said, "In this Pearl Harbor day, we should remember that the US refused to side with France and the UK to confront the fascist powers in the 30s." After the tweet was met with criticism, Araud deleted it and attempted to clarify his remarks.[7]

In July 2018, Araud sent a letter to The Daily Show host, Trevor Noah. Noah made comments on his show regarding the multiethnicity of the France national football team following their win in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Araud criticized Noah’s remarks and sent him a formal letter. Noah responded to the letter in between scenes of his show.[8] His comments were also added to Twitter, where Araud declared an end to the argument on X: "[Noah] said »they are African. They couldn’t get this suntan in the south of France ». i.e They can’t be French because they are black. The argument of the white supremacist."[9]

In 2019 when retiring from being the French ambassador to the United States, Araud gave an assessment of Trump and drew a comparison to French history. He described the Trump administration as having the polar opposite of the meticulous decision-making process of the Obama administration, resembling that of Louis XIV, an old ruler who was a "whimsical, unpredictable, uninformed" leader who nonetheless wanted to be making the decisions, and he noted that Trump's "unpredictability and his single-minded transactional interpretation of US interests was leaving the administration isolated on the world stage."[10] He also provided some advice in an interview with Politico, "keep cool".[11] Before leaving his post in Washington, Araud described the city as being full of provincial early-bird dinners, "sad" baggy suits, and awful jeans.[12]

After his retirement in April 2019, he will become an advisor to the Israeli IT security company NSO Group, publisher of the spyware Pegasus, and will also join the communications firm Richard Attias & Associates, half-owned by a Saudi sovereign wealth fund. In 2021, the former ambassador is the subject of “important verifications” by the French High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, and of a report for “intelligence with a foreign power” to the Paris Public Prosecutor. For his activities with NSO Group, he is subject to a deduction of 5,000 euros from his pension as a senior civil servant in his capacity as minister plenipotentiary hors classe who has retired.

Other activities

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Personal life

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Araud is openly gay and supports same-sex marriage.[1] His long-time partner is photographer Pascal Blondeau.[1]

Publications

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  • Passeport diplomatique : quarante ans au Quai d'Orsay ("Diplomatic passport: forty years at the Quai d'Orsay"), Paris, Éditions Grasset, 2019, 384 p.
  • Henry Kissinger : le diplomate du siècle ("Henry Kissinger: the diplomat of the century"), Tallandier, 2021, 336 p.
  • Histoires diplomatiques : Leçons d'hier pour le monde d'aujourd'hui ("Diplomatic Histories: Lessons from yesterday for today's world"), Paris, Éditions Grasset, 2022, 320 p.
  • Nous étions seuls : une histoire diplomatique de la France 1919-1939 ("We were alone: a diplomatic history of France 1919-1939"), Tallandier, 2023, 336 p.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Stephanie Green, Don’t Call Him the Gay Ambassador: Gérard Araud, France’s Head Envoy to the U.S., Wants to Bring Diplomacy into the 21st Century Archived November 12, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Vogue, November 6, 2014
  2. ^ "Official biography on the website of the Embassy of France in the United Nations". Archived from the original on September 11, 2014. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  3. ^ «New Permanent Representative of France Presents Credentials» Archived October 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Communiqué of the UN Department of Public Information, September 10, 2009
  4. ^ "Official decree on Légifrance, official website of the French government for the publication of legislation, regulations, and legal information". Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved September 10, 2014.
  5. ^ "Désemparé par le résultat de l'élection américaine, Gérard Araud, l'ambassadeur français aux Etats-Unis se fait incendier sur Twitter Archived November 10, 2016, at the Wayback Machine" in Le Huffington Post (9 Nov. 2016), mentioning Gilbert Collard of the Front National, Eric Anceau of Debout La France and Philippe Meunier, an aide of Nicolas Sarkozy.
  6. ^ "French ambassador to the US says the "world is collapsing" as Donald Trump looks set to become President Archived January 9, 2018, at the Wayback Machine" in Daily Mirror (9 November 2016)
  7. ^ Morton, Victor (December 7, 2017). "French ambassador uses Pearl Harbor Day to blast U.S. for betraying France in 1930s". Washington Times. Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  8. ^ Butler, Bethonie (July 19, 2018). "Trevor Noah joked Africa won the World Cup. The French ambassador isn't happy". The Washington Post.
  9. ^ Araud, Gérard. "Twitter".
  10. ^ Borger, Julian, "'Whimisical, uninformed': French ambassador's parting verdict on Trump", The Guardian, April 19, 2019
  11. ^ Toosi, Nahal, "Washington is a bit hysterical: French envoy offers advice as he bids adieu, From 'the ultimate bureaucrat' Barack Obama to 'it is what it is' Donald Trump, the departing French ambassador reflects on navigating D.C.", Politico, April 19, 2019
  12. ^ Dowd, Maureen (April 27, 2019). "Opinion | Au Revoir, Trump and Washington, D.C." The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 28, 2019.
  13. ^ "Crisis Group Welcomes Four New Trustees to Board" Archived February 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine International Crisis Group (ICG), press release of January 21, 2019.
  14. ^ "News | Albright Stonebridge Group". www.albrightstonebridge.com. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
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