Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron expressed their desire in Washington on Thursday to seek a solution in Ukraine together, but without cutting back on their support for kyiv, during a state visit overflowing with diplomatic affection.
“I am ready to talk to Putin if he is looking for a way to end the war. He hasn’t done it yet,” the US president said during a joint press conference with his French counterpart.
Joe Biden also stressed that any discussion with the Russian president would be “in consultation with my French and NATO friends”.
“We will remain united to (us) oppose the brutality” of Russia in Ukraine, the 80-year-old democrat said again, as the conflict enters its tenth month, and especially in a harsh winter season.
The French president, whose positions on the matter have in the past aroused incomprehension, even a certain irritation from the Americans, told him that he would “never push the Ukrainians to accept a compromise which would be unacceptable for them” concerning the Russian aggression, because that would not make it possible to build “a lasting peace”.
In a joint statement, the two countries assured that they would continue to provide kyiv with “political, security, humanitarian and economic assistance for as long as necessary”.
Trade frictions
Whether during their press conference or during the more solemn moments of Emmanuel Macron’s state visit, the first organized by the Biden administration, the two leaders displayed the most radiant understanding.
Forgotten, the open crisis of September 2021, when Washington blew a huge order for Australian submarines under the nose of the French.
It’s time for coordination, even on perhaps the most contentious subject on the agenda: Joe Biden’s energy transition policy, which unashamedly gives priority to American jobs and “made in USA” products. .
All this, with massive subsidies deemed “super aggressive” on Wednesday by Emmanuel Macron, who fears that they will compromise Europe’s projects for green energy and industrial recovery.
“I make no apologies for this legislation,” said Joe Biden, promising however to fix the “defects” of his “Inflation Reduction Act”, pharaonic investment plan in green energy, especially in electric cars.
Joe Biden has pledged that job creation in the United States will not be “at the expense of Europe”, but Europeans must “go faster and stronger” to have “the same ambition than the Americans, demanded Emmanuel Macron.
The White House deployed all its pomp on Thursday to celebrate Franco-American friendship, while the two men tried to temper the pomp with a more personal touch.
Why did you choose Emmanuel Macron for his first state visit? “Because he’s my friend,” Joe Biden said simply as he walked to the Oval Office, while the French president laid his arm on his shoulder in a friendly way.
“Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”
“Our common destiny is to respond together” to the challenges of the world, said Emmanuel Macron, shortly after the Marseillaise, then the American anthem had sounded on the lawns of the White House, on a radiant and icy morning.
Joe Biden ventured to pronounce, in French, the motto “Liberty, equality, fraternity”.
The day is to end with a state dinner with which the Americans intend to show off to France on the culinary level.
The White House sacrificed 200 lobsters and will present exclusively American wines and cheeses.
The two presidents also exchanged, as tradition dictates, gifts. On the French side, one of the present is, inevitably, romantic: a vinyl of the soundtrack of the film “A man, a woman”.
It is said that Joe and his wife Jill Biden went to see this work by Claude Lelouch during their first date.