Friday 29 October 2021
USA shake hands with France
Biden: submarine deal was “awkward”
A broken submarine deal creates tension between the United States and France. At a meeting in Rome, however, the signs between US President Biden and French President Macron point to reconciliation. This is also due to an admission by the American.
After the diplomatic scandal over a submarine deal, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron struck conciliatory tones at a meeting in Rome. “What we did was awkward,” admitted Biden at the meeting at the French embassy at the Holy See. “It wasn’t done with much elegance.”
But France is an “extremely, extremely valued partner,” emphasized the US President in the Villa Bonaparte. “We have no older, no more loyal, no more decent ally than France.” The country shares the “same values” as the USA.
Macron, in turn, welcomed “concrete decisions” that had been made in response to the dispute over a submarine deal with Australia. “For me, that really initiates a process of trust.” Macron emphasized: “We have clarified what we had to clarify.” Now it is about “looking into the future”.
Dispute caused a stir internationally
The submarine dispute had severely strained relations between the historical allies. The USA, Great Britain and Australia announced an Indo-Pacific alliance in mid-September, which also includes the construction of nuclear submarines for Australia. The fact that Australia then canceled a long-planned multi-billion dollar submarine deal with France caused outraged reactions in Paris.
In the meantime, France withdrew its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused the allies of “stabbing Paris in the back”. In the dispute, the EU leaders and Germany also stood behind France. Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas described the US approach as “irritating” and “sobering”.
The US immediately tried to smooth things over. Biden and Macron have phoned twice in the past few weeks. During their first phone call, they agreed, among other things, “in-depth consultations” and a meeting in Europe for the end of October. This took place before the start of the G20 summit in Rome.
Macron received Biden on Friday with a long handshake, and both presidents patted each other on the shoulder. Biden said he originally assumed France had been “informed” long ago that the French submarine deal with Australia would fail. Biden had previously been received by Pope Francis for a private audience. The US President also met the Italian Head of State Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Mario Draghi.