Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden will soon see each other again. The French president will be received on a state visit by Joe Biden on December 1. They were both present at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II last Monday, before going to the General Assembly of the United Nations, the first since the health crisis. The visit of the French president should last two days, according to information reported earlier in the day by our colleagues from TF1.
“This visit will testify to the depth and vigor of the relationship between the United States and France, our oldest ally,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, spokeswoman for the White House. There will be many topics on the table. Starting, of course, with the conflict in Ukraine and the policy to be conducted vis-à-vis Russia, which has decided to call on its citizens to mobilize. We should also mention Cop27, the world conference on climate change scheduled for Sharm-el-Sheikh, which will have ended a few days earlier.
An upturn after the diplomatic storm?
A state visit is the highest form of diplomatic encounter between two heads of state. They thus contrast with the bilateral meetings organized by American presidents for foreign leaders. In the United States, it corresponds in particular to the organization of a ceremony within the White House. None have taken place so far under the presidency of Joe Biden, which Karine Jean-Pierre attributed to the restrictions linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. Macron thus does a double blow, since in 2018, Donald Trump also reserved his very first reception for him in this format after coming to power.
Asked about the choice of France for this first under Joe Biden, the spokesperson replied “we attach great importance to our relations with France”. The ties are “based on shared democratic values, economic ties and defense and security cooperation”.
Relations between Paris and Washington suffered a major crisis last year when Australia abruptly announced that it was abandoning a contract to buy French conventional submarines in favor of a nuclear submarine deal. American attackers.