The President of the United States Joe Biden will be received by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on June 8 in Paris on the occasion of his “first state visit to France”, the Elysée announced this Thursday, May 30.
This visit “will be preceded by the commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the Allied Landings” during the Second World War, on June 6 in Normandy, which will be attended by the American president and his wife Jill Biden.
The White House specified in another press release that Joe Biden would be in France from June 5 to 9. He will speak on June 6 during official ceremonies on the Normandy beaches of Utah and Omaha Beach, where “73,000 courageous Americans” landed to “open the way to the liberation of France and Europe”, added the American presidency, stressing that the head of state would greet “American veterans and their families”.
“While 80 years after the Liberation of Europe, war is back on the continent, the two presidents will discuss the unfailing and long-term support to be given to Ukraine,” declared the Elysée for its part.
A busy diplomatic agenda
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected at the D-Day commemorations. “This close coordination on international crises will be intended to prepare the next international events, in particular the G7 summit in Bari”, mid-June in Italy, “and the NATO summit”, in July in Washington, specified the French presidency.
On June 7, Joe Biden “will deliver a speech at Pointe du Hoc”, still in Normandy, “on the importance of defending freedom and democracy”, according to the White House. If he goes to the G7 as expected, Joe Biden, 81, will have to make two round trips across the Atlantic in a few days, while he is already in the middle of the campaign for his re-election against his Republican predecessor Donald Trump in view of the November election.
For Emmanuel Macron, this state visit comes on the eve of high-risk European elections for his camp, largely behind in the polls by the far right of the National Rally, and even closely followed by the Socialist candidate Raphaël Glucksmann.