Experts & Staff

Camille Lons

Deputy Head, Paris Office
Policy Fellow

Areas of expertise

Middle East geoeconomics; China – Gulf relations; Gulf region; Red Sea geopolitics

Languages

French, English, Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese

Biography

Camille Lons is a policy fellow and deputy head of the Paris office at the European Council on Foreign Relations, where she works on geoeconomics and relations between China and the Gulf countries. Prior to joining ECFR, Lons was a research associate at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), based in Bahrain and Taiwan, where she worked on Gulf-Asia relations and co-authored the report “Gulf Bailout Diplomacy: Aid as Economic Statecraft in a Turbulent Region” (2023). Before that, she was the coordinator of the Middle East and North Africa programme at ECFR and project editor of the policy paper “China’s great game in the Middle East” (2019). She was also a Schuman Fellow at the European Parliament, focusing on Middle East policy.

Lons holds an MSc in population and development from the London School of Economics, an MA in international relations from Sciences Po Aix, and an MA in middle eastern studies from Aix-Marseille University.

Anatomy of a close call: The aftermath of Macron’s great gamble

To form a workable government after the snap election, French parties will need to make coalitions and concessions. But such cooperation runs contrary to French political culture, and the likely divisions risk weakening France’s voice on the international and European stage

Publications

Articles

Anatomy of a close call: The aftermath of Macron’s great gamble

To form a workable government after the snap election, French parties will need to make coalitions and concessions. But such cooperation runs contrary to French political culture, and the likely divisions risk weakening France’s voice on the international and European stage

Onshore balancing: The threat to Oman’s neutrality

Oman's decision to grant the US Navy access to strategically important ports reflects intensifying global rivalry between the US and China. Europe can work to keep Oman a neutral mediator

Oman: between Iran and a hard place

Oman has historically been careful to balance its relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran, allowing it to play a useful role mediating regional disputes. However, as the region’s anti-Iran rhetoric is ramping up and the Sultanate is having to deal with its own domestic issues, neutrality is becoming harder to maintain

Podcasts

Events

In the media