The President of the United States, Joe Biden, It has been shown this Thursday willing to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putinif a series of conditions. In a press conference at the White House after holding a meeting of almost three hours with the French President Emmanuel Macron and choosing his words “very carefully” Biden has shown himself “prepared to talk to Mr. Putin if there is in fact an interest in him deciding find a way to end the war” which opened last February with the invasion of Ukraine. “He hasn’t done it for now,” Biden has also stressed.
Although the president has advanced that have no immediate plans to establish this direct contact, has denounced Putin’s actions in Ukraine as “sick” and has assured that the Russian leader “has been wrong in all the calculations”, has also left the door open for that meeting. And he has added that he would take that step.”only in consultation with NATO allies”. “I am not going to do it on my own,” Biden has insisted, who has said: “I would be andI’d love to sit down and see what you have in mind.”
united front
Biden’s statements have come almost at the end of an appearance before the press together with Macron, protagonist of the first state visit of the Democrat’s presidency, in which the conflict in Ukraine has been one of the central topics of conversation, but not unique, between the two leaders. And the long bilateral and the appearance before the media have also served to publicly show a rapprochement after months of growing tensionfrom the conflict response war on European soil and its consequences, for example in energy matters, as well as Biden’s national political actions that Paris sees as protectionist and harmful for France and Europe. “Sometimes we have slight differences, but they are never fundamental,” Biden said.
The two leaders, for example, have shown a united front to condemn russia, especially for the brutal aggression against the civilian population of Ukraine. And Biden’s unusual public statement showing his willingness to speak with Putin has brought him closer to the position maintained by Macron, who maintains contacts with the Russian leader and in Washington has not abandoned his defense of peace negotiations to end the conflict but He has stressed that it must be a process decided by the attacked. “We will never urge Ukrainians to make a compromise that is not acceptable to them,” he said. “We have to respect that it is the Ukrainians who decide the moment and the conditions in what they will negotiate about their territory and their future”.
economic approach
The rough edges have also been ironed out, publicly, with respect to another of the central points of friction between the two leaders: the Inflation Reduction Law signed by Biden in summer. That rule contemplates a investment of 360,000 million dollars in combating climate change and aid and subsidies for US manufacturers of electric vehicles and components and is viewed with suspicion in Paris and other European capitals as protectionist and negative for European interests.
The same Wednesday, before going to a private dinner together with the first ladies, Macron denounced in a statement at the French embassy in Washington Biden’s political actions as “super aggressive” and warned that They threatened to “fragment the West.” But this Thursday, publicly, both his tone and Biden’s have been very different.
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The two have spoken publicly about work together to try to resolve the tensions that the law has created. And Biden has stressed that he does not apologize for the rule, but has also acknowledged that may contain “bugs” that can be fixed. “We can resolve some of the differences that exist, I trust that”, said the American, who has defended that the law “never intended to exclude those who cooperate with us, that was not the intention”, and has promised to “continue creating manufacturing jobs in the US but not at the expense of Europe”.
Macronmuch more moderate than the day before at the embassy, has also spoken of “work together” and “resynchronize” the agendas. “We want succeed together, not against each other”he said, assuring that both have “the same vision and will” and noting that both have commissioned their teams to continue working “in cooperation and close coordination to find solutions”.