Macron REFUSES to stop Saudi Arabia arms sales after Khashoggi murder – ‘What’s the link?’

The murder of a Washington Post journalist and vocal critic of Saudi Arabi’s hardline rulers has cast a dark shadow over the West’s diplomatic and commercial ties with the regime.

“We agreed that when we have more clarity … we will try to find a unified European solution or reaction from all member states of the European Union,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said at a joint news conference with the French centrist. 

Mr Macron, for his part, said any decisions that would be taken, including potential sanctions, had to be made at European level to ensure coordination. 

In a rare outburst against his EU allies, Mr Macron on Friday dismissed as “demagoguery” the calls by several European countries including Germany to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of Mr Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

“What’s the link between arms sales and Mr Khashoggi’s murder? I understand the connection with what’s happening in Yemen, but there is no link with Mr Khashoggi,” France’s 40-year-old leader told a news conference in Slovakia. 

“That’s pure demagoguery to say ‘we must stop arms sales’. It’s got nothing to do with Mr Khashoggi,” he insisted.  

Germany has already said it will stop exporting weapons to Saudi Arabia until the circumstances surrounding Mr Khashoggi’s death are cleared up. 

While France has not halted arms sales to the kingdom, it has promised to take action against those held responsible for the murder. 

France, along with the United States and Britain, is one of the main arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies.

Paris and Riyadh enjoy close diplomatic and commercial relations spanning energy, finance and weapons.

But France, which sees Riyadh as a rampart against rising Iranian influence in the Middle East, now faces a balancing act.

From 2008 to 2017, Saudi Arabia was the second biggest purchaser of French arms, with deals totalling more than 11 billion euros (£8 billion), according to French defence ministry data. 

In 2017 alone, licenses worth around 14.7 billion euros (£13 billion) to Saudi Arabia were approved. 

But the killing of Mr Khashoggi – a Washington Post columnist and fierce critic of Saudi Arabia’s de facto rulers – has sparked a flurry of global outrage and thrown the world’s top oil exporter into crisis. 

The Saudi national had been living in self-imposed exile in Virginia in the US, often writing columns denouncing the absolute power of crown prince Muhammad bin Salman.

The incident has cast intense spotlight on the West’s relationship with Riyadh, given growing doubts over Saudi Arabia’s shifting explanations of the killing.

The kingdom’s public prosecutor said last week the killing was premeditated, contradicting a previous official statement that it happened accidentally.