Foreign affairs

France's Macron puts national security at heart of foreign policy

President Emmanuel Macron is starting to realign France's foreign policy, setting out plans to be less interventionist in conflicts abroad and putting his country's national security at the heart of diplomacy.

When Macron, 39, took office just over a month ago, he was widely expected to put the emphasis on continuity in foreign policy, an area in which he is a newcomer.

Following a policy based largely on ideological interests, France has in recent years been quick to intervene militarily in conflicts such as those in Libya, Mali and Central African Republic. That appears to be about to change under Macron.

This week he dropped demands for President Bashar al-Assad to depart as a condition for any peace settlement in Syria and held out an olive branch to Russian President Vladimir Putin at talks in Versailles on May 29.