Europe 1
What Franco-American relations after the cancellation of the “contract of the century” last month? Gérard Araud, former ambassador of the United States, gave some food for thought during the political interview with Jean-Pierre Elkabbach this Sunday after the meeting of Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden in Rome on Saturday. Basically, “a French president must have good relations with the president of the United States who, after all, is the most powerful person in the world,” he said. According to him, the French president had succeeded in doing it with Donald Trump, he “had to do it with Joe Biden” even if he expected “someone more favorable to Europeans”. But the trauma of the submarine affair had to be overcome.
No formal apologies
The US president’s statements following the meeting went as far as possible for the former diplomat. He did not apologize, because “a president never presents an apology” recalled Gérard Araud, but “came close” to it. The submarine affair is “an American blunder, not a desire to harm the French”, it “caused a certain awakening of the Americans” on the work to be done with the Europeans. “This visit by Joe Biden is quite substantial vis-à-vis Europeans, and perhaps the Americans are waking up following the submarine affair,” he insisted on American European policy.
But what does France represent for Joe Biden? For Gérard Araud, this rout questions the European representation in the eyes of the United States. “What does Europe weigh against the Americans?”, Opposed the ambassador. “All American power is in the process of pivoting towards Asia” and the submarine affair reflects this since “it is above all an Australian-American alliance against China”. Gérard Araud recalls that Sino-American relations will structure global geopolitics for years to come.
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