Kamala Harris is visiting France, where she is due to meet Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday November 10. The American Vice President “look to the future” according to Jean-Eric Branaa, specialist in the United States and lecturer at the University of Assas-Paris II. She “can potentially become president at any time if something happens to the incumbent president. This is what Emmanuel Macron bet on by inviting the American vice-president for the Forum for Peace, c that is why she is above all in Paris “, asserted the author of America of the Future, Kamala Harris.
franceinfo: What will Kamala Harris’ role be today?
Jean-Eric Branaa: In reality, Kamala Harris has no role. She’s vice president of the United States, constitutionally she doesn’t exist. She’s just there to wait for the president to step aside in different ways, including death.
“She is invited by Emmanuel Macron because he is betting on the future. On that side, they both meet.”
Jean-Eric Branaa, specialist in the United Statesto franceinfo
The future of France for Emmanuel Macron who is returning to the campaign and the future of America for Kamala Harris who can potentially become president at any time if something happens to the president in office. This is what Emmanuel Macron bet on by inviting the American vice-president for the Forum for Peace, which is why she is above all in Paris.
“Kamala Harris is also deconstructing, along with Joe Biden, everything Donald Trump has done.”
Jean-Eric Branaa, specialist in the United Statesto franceinfo
Yesterday, she went to the Institut Pasteur, it was a nice nod to her mother who was a researcher and who had worked with this institute. It was also a good way to say that she believed in science, and in this time of pandemic, that is important. It was said enough during the campaign that Donald Trump did not believe it. The presence of Joe Biden at the opening of the debates of the COP26 was a very strong gesture, and today it is Kamala Harris who comes to make another by coming to this Forum for Peace. There will also be the conference on Libya, which is also a page that is turned, we are in the fight against terrorism and the reconstruction of this region. So these are a lot of pages to turn for Kamala Harris who accompanies Joe Biden on this.
Will there still be a question of this broken contract of the submarines?
Barely. It is true that in the little music, we will certainly hear from French diplomacy that relations take time to rebuild but that they are on the right track. Kamala Harris is not there for that. She said it herself, she looks to the future, she’s not here to talk about the past, and again, she doesn’t have to, it’s not her role. She is not going to speak behind the President of the United States to contradict him, or even to dub him. She’s going to talk about something else, she’s building her international career. She will also talk about good relations with France, those of construction in the space sector, in the Sahel, in the Indo-Pacific region. All this will be discussed, because she is starting to learn the trade, she is an apprentice president and Emmanuel Macron is supporting this movement.
Does she find this role of vice-president as had wanted Joe Biden during his companion, that is to say the power in team?
Yes and it is true that Joe Biden is very careful to talk about the “Biden-Harris” administration whenever he can, except during the crisis in Afghanistan when he made it disappear from the radar, she was no longer next to him on the stage at each intervention. But she came back, especially at the time of this success with the infrastructures of a few days ago, she will be there next week for the big ceremony to seal this pact, and for the future “Build Back Better” law, the social and climate law that Joe Biden wants to pass very quickly. It is true that he puts Kamala Harris first, and that it is a two-man administration, it is something quite new. But it is in the logic of Joe Biden who had also asked Barack Obama that his role be like this, because, let us remember, the American Constitution does not provide for any role for the vice-president.