Washington, Dec 1 (EFE).- The US president, Joe Biden, and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, staged on Thursday the strength of their alliance and their determination to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the beginning of their meeting at the White House.
The two presidents made remarks at a podium on the White House lawn at a welcome ceremony for Macron, the first foreign leader Biden has honored with a state visit since he came to power in January 2021.
In his statements, Biden highlighted the historic alliance with France and highlighted the democratic values and respect for human rights that unite the two nations, in contrast to the aggression against Ukraine perpetrated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“France and the United States are confronting the conquest ambitions of Vladimir Putin and his brutal war against Ukraine, which has once again shattered the peace of the European continent,” Biden said.
For his part, Macron considered that at a time when war has returned to Europe with the Russian aggression in Ukraine, it is essential that Washington and Paris come together again “in their fight for freedom.”
«This common history also obliges us before the return of the war on European soil after the Russian aggression. (…) We must know how to be brothers in arms again », he maintained at the beginning of his reception at the White House.
Macron’s welcome ceremony was filled with French and American flags, as well as a red carpet and applause from attendees.
Once inside the Oval Office, the two leaders acknowledged that the world is at a turning point over the war in Ukraine.
Macron, defender of a diplomatic solution, advocated finding a way to build a “lasting peace” and maintaining close cooperation to fix the “direct and indirect consequences of the war”, which especially impact Europe.
On the other hand, he called for a better “synchronization” of US and French business actions, since Biden’s economic plan to combat inflation and climate change includes tax incentives to promote US companies, which could harm the green sector in Europe.
Already the day before, Macron had stressed that these incentives are very “aggressive” and that they risk “fragmenting” the West by causing great differences between the United States and Europe.
The visit serves to turn the page on tensions last year, when the US and UK struck a deal to help Australia develop nuclear submarines, causing Paris to lose a lucrative deal with Canberra and temporarily withdraw to his ambassador in Washington.
The war in Ukraine has made Biden and Macron closer to each other and, at the same time, has revitalized NATO, which in 2019 the French president accused of being in a situation of “brain death.”
The two leaders have met on several occasions since Biden took office in January 2021 and have met at several summits, most recently the G20 in Bali earlier this month.
Their last meeting, which lasted 45 minutes, was on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, in September in New York. EFE
