When the new head of France's foreign intelligence agency DGSE (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Extérieure), Nicolas Lerner, dived into the deep end of global intelligence intrigue, his surroundings could not have been more luxurious: barely a month after his appointment, he found himself on 28 January at the entrance of The Peninsula Paris on Avenue Kléber in the French capital's chic 16th arrondissement. Once past the kitsch oriental statues, he made his way to the luxury hotel's suites that have been reserved for the world's finest intelligence officers, ever hard at work.
CIA chief William Burns and his team have their own suite, requiring ever increasing security measures and countermeasures - everyone here has only a relative degree of trust for each other - as does his Mossad counterpart, David Barnea. Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani is playing at home as the hotel has belonged to his country since 2007.
They are all there to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza. The French intelligence chief's presence had not been revealed until now, but, representing the talks' host power, he had to come and greet his counterparts. Nine months on, they have yet to yield a result. Lerner did not, however, spend the night, which would cost at least €1,500.
Acceptable owners
The former mansion that housed the Société de Géographie is practical in many ways: its location on Avenue Kléber in western Paris means that it can be reached quickly by car from the ring road, and therefore from the airports. It also means not having to drive into the very centre of Paris, where competitors such as the Ritz Paris, Hôtel de Crillon, etc. are located, but where you have to be patient if you want to get anywhere by car, even if you have diplomatic plates, thanks to the various roadworks undertaken by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo.
On top of that, the hotel's owners are reassuring for all parties. The hotel was bought from France in 2007 by the Qatari state fund Katara Hospitality, during Doha's buying frenzy in Paris, helped by an array of consultants (IO, 27/03/13). But Doha shares ownership with the Hong Kong fund Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels (HSH), which is controlled by the large but discreet Hong Kong Jewish Kadoorie family. The current chairman of the conglomerate, Michael Kadoorie, is a recipient of the French Légion d'honneur and, through various foundations, is involved in numerous charitable projects in Israel.
The current managers of the companies that run the hotel, Majestic EURL and its umbrella holding company 19 Holding SAS, are Qatari businessman Irfan Sharief and South African Lourens Kruger.
Ukrainians also
But Israeli, US and Qatari spymasters aren't the only ones enjoying the lobby and terraces - particularly on the roof - of the imposing U-shaped building. According to our sources, the Peninsula has also become a base for Ukrainian officials visiting Paris since the start of the war with Russia. It is the favourite place to stay for members of government, and of the country's armed forces and intelligence services. And all under the close protection - or surveillance - of French security, as Moscow's spies remain active in the French capital.
It is in the hotel's discreet lounges, with their overly-new chesterfield armchairs, that contracts to deliver arms to Ukraine are negotiated. At Paris' last Eurosatory arms fair in June, for example, the Ukrainian and French military staffs and representatives from key defence manufacturers (Nexter, Thales, etc.) gathered for a less than sober meeting. It remains unclear who picked up the tab.
History of parallel diplomacy
During the Second World War, when it was known as the Hotel Majestic, the establishment became the headquarters of the German military high command in France during the occupation. The building then served as UNESCO's headquarters when it was founded in 1946, and thanks to the crises in Gaza and Ukraine the location is regaining its prestigious history of paradiplomacy.
Meanwhile, during the Cold War, it was here that the first, secret, negotiations took place in 1973 between the emissary of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, Le Duc Tho, and US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, with a view to signing the Paris agreements that put an end to the Vietnam War. A successful diplomatic outcome that none of the discreet meetings held at the Peninsula in recent months have yet managed to replicate.
