After Normandy, Joe Biden and his wife are received by the Macron couple for a state visit this Saturday, June 8. The aim is to highlight the importance of alliances in the face of current global challenges and to underline the proximity between the two countries.
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Representatives of the Biden administration repeat it over and over, as they know that their interlocutors appreciate hearing it: the France is the oldest ally of UNITED STATES. And besides, the Biden-Macron relationship is a story of firsts. First state visit to Washington under President Joe Biden in December 2022 for Emmanuel Macron and therefore the first foreign state visit of the American president to Paris.
Before that, there had also been the first recall of the French ambassador to Washington following the conclusion of the Aukus alliance with the United Kingdom and Australia who had decided to buy submarines from the United States rather than France. But all that is behind us and the French ally is appreciated. First for its support for Ukraine. The announcement of the sending of Mirage 2000-5 to Ukraine will please Washington, even if contrary to what Emmanuel Macron has repeated, Joe Biden is absolutely not considering sending soldiers.
The administration’s message is that despite occasional disagreements, Paris and Washington agree on the essentials: the defense of democracy and freedom and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The president respects President Macron. Like President Biden, he speaks bluntly, he goes straight to the point, and because he was elected for that, to ensure the aspirations of the French people and the country. And we respect that. This is sovereignty and this is what is at stake in Ukraine. The other idea that is at stake here and that Mr. Putin would like to weaken is the idea of sovereignty: being able to change a border by force. And of course, the United States respects the sovereign decisions of other nations, including our closest allies. And of course, we won’t always agree on everything. That’s what being friends is all about. It’s having frank discussions and that you can disagree on things. But I will tell you, France and the United States, President Biden and President Macron, agree on the most important things. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, Ukrainian lives and to oppose Mr. Putin and the apprentice aggressors who would like to call into question this order based on rules, which moreover was put in place thanks to the invasion of Normandy.
John Kirby, White House National Security Communications Advisor
Principles around which Joe Biden for the American presidential election, and Emmanuel Macron for the European Parliament, focus their respective electoral campaigns.
“The Franco-American relationship must be good”
Among the other issues of this visit: the war in Ukraine and more generally the strengthening of the Western bloc against authoritarian countries like Russia and China. This is the opinion of Maud Quessard, director of Somaine Europe, transatlantic space and Russia at Irsem, the research institute of the military school.
“ The two presidents stand united as representatives of two democracies who do not want to give in to isolationism. Today, the Franco-American relationship must be good. A few months before the American presidential election and while the conflict in Ukraine is bogged down and the Russian offensive is ever more aggressive, the state of this transatlantic relationship must be strengthened in the face of a common enemy », explains Maud Quessard.
“ Which makes sense, both in the context of the June 6 commemorations, but also in the context of a revitalization of NATO. So, even if there are points of amendment or reorganization of the Alliance, it must be strengthened. It can only be if Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron are on the same line, that of defending democratic values against authoritarian states. », she adds.
The strategic autonomy advocated by Emmanuel Macron is however not a problem for Joe Biden’s America, quite the contrary, maintains Maud Quessard.
The Franco-American relationship has been characterized by a “je t’aime, moi non plus” relationship since the Second World War. This is not really new, France has always asserted its difference, including on military questions, as we know. The Americans, all administrations combined, have always emphasized to us the fact that we must find European solutions to European problems before depending on an American military umbrella. We are not ungrateful when we want to advocate strategic autonomy.
Maud Quessard, director of Somaine Europe, transatlantic space and Russia at Irsem