Joe Biden on Friday displayed treasures of cordiality against Emmanuel Macron, in an attempt to make people forget their quarrel about Australian submarines, while the French president, more measured, spoke of “the beginning of a process of confidence “.
Repeated handshakes, smiles, assurance of his “great affection” for France, the “oldest ally” of the United States: the American president spared no effort with his French counterpart, who received him. at the Villa Bonaparte, French Embassy to the Vatican.
Their meeting, face to face and then with their delegations, lasted almost an hour and a half.
“What we did was clumsy and was not done very elegantly,” Joe Biden told reporters just before the meeting of the diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
He assured Emmanuel Macron, in a somewhat surprising statement: “I had the impression that France had been informed very early on that the contract [de sous-marins qu’elle avait avec l’Australie] would not happen. Before God, I assure you I didn’t know you weren’t. “
This act of contrition is the clearest yet from the Americans about the announcement of a defense partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom, which took France by surprise.
“We have clarified what we have to clarify,” said Emmanuel Macron about this alliance, which costs France a huge contract for submarines with Australia.
From now on, “it is the future that must be looked at”, he declared, more measured in his gestures and his tone than the American president.
The future is embodied for the French president in several areas of concrete action listed after the meeting in a joint statement. France and the United States will notably engage in a “bilateral partnership on clean energy” by the end of this year. Also, according to the press release, the two States “wish to strengthen their cooperation on space issues”.
The future will also be an opportunity for the two countries “to provide essential elements of clarification on what is European sovereignty and European defense”, underlined the French president.
Persistent confusion
For Paris, the fact that the gigantic American presidential convoy – 84 cars – was moving on French soil was already a sign of the American desire to put the pieces back together.
The United States had been visibly taken aback by the very strong French reaction to the announcement, in mid-September, of a new alliance, dubbed “Aukus”, between the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. – United in the Indo-Pacific area.
In addition to not having been consulted, Paris was very disappointed by the first consequence of this partnership: the abandonment by Australia of a mega-contract for French submarines.
Dissatisfied, Emmanuel Macron, after recalling the French ambassador to the United States, had waited a week before speaking with Joe Biden, on September 22, a telephone discussion which had made it possible to initiate the detente.
New strong man
Before the French president, Joe Biden, anxious to consolidate the European alliances of the United States abused under the Trump presidency, saw in Rome Mario Draghi, head of the Italian government, considered by some commentators as a new strong man on the European political scene .
During this interview, they agreed on “the usefulness of developing a Europe of defense,” said the Italian government, a decidedly ubiquitous subject.
In its version of the interview, the White House does not specifically mention the Europe of defense, but ensures that Joe Biden and Mario Draghi have “reaffirmed the importance of NATO”, in particular in the Mediterranean.
These meetings serve as a curtain-raiser before the G20 summit under the Italian presidency, which takes place on Saturday and Sunday, followed by the major COP26 climate meeting in Glasgow.