“France is one of our strongest partners and our most capable allies, and Emmanuel has become a friend,” said Joe Biden.
By Athena Papakosta
Determined to stay united, they appeared Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron towards Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but also to what separates them.
Emmanuel Macron’s first visit to the White House under Biden was a sign of a long friendship between the two leaders.
The American president and his French counterpart focused on the deep ties that unite France and the United States while remaining faithful to their commitments that Moscow be defeated in the war it started and that the planet does not slide into the mire of recession.
“France is one of our strongest partners and our most capable allies, and Emmanuel has become a friend,” said Joe Biden, during the joint press conference held by the two leaders after the conclusion of the of their meeting at the White House.
“Our countries are brothers in the fight for freedom” underlined Emmanuel Macron. “We face all challenges together. “Occasionally we have some minor differences but we have never had a fundamental one until today,” added the American president.
One of these differences was highlighted at the negotiating table, and it is none other than Europeans’ discomfort with Biden’s economic policy.
The vanguard of this European discontent is Emmanuel Macron, who has openly accused Joe Biden’s United States of protectionism.
The French president has spoken out against the massive subsidies provided for in the Biden Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as Macron sees major differences between the US and Europe that could lead many European companies to make the decision and relocate. on the other side of the Atlantic.
The French president had the opportunity to speak directly to his US counterpart and press him for European exemptions from his law and massive subsidies to US-only green companies.
THE Joe Bidenwithout apologizing, admitted that there are “flaws” in his legislation and suggested that “small corrections” be made since, as he emphasized, “we want to create jobs, but not at the expense of Europe” to add that “there was no intention to exclude our allies from cooperation with Washington”.
“We have no choice but to work together,” Macron stressed during the joint press conference and underlined: “We want to succeed together, not at the expense of each other.”
Europe is paying dearly for the ongoing war in Ukraine. Inflation is galloping and the Old Continent is in danger of sinking into recession while the European economies did not manage to recover well from the adventure of the coronavirus pandemic. The energy crisis remains and there are not a few European leaders who want the war to end and its impact on their economies not to grow any further.
Emmanuel Macron is already openly discussing that the fighting should end at the dialogue table and not on the field, declaring at the same time that he “would never urge the Ukrainians to accept a compromise that would be unacceptable to them.”
“There is only one way to end this war, the rational one. Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine. It’s sick what he’s doing,” Joe Biden replied.
Within the next few days, Emmanuel Macron will hold talks with the Russian president, while Joe Biden, who has had no contact with Vladimir Putin since the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, opened the door for talks for the first time but, with terms.
“I am ready to talk to Putin if he is really interested in finding a way to end the war. He has not done something like this yet” he emphasized and clarified that any discussion with his Russian counterpart will take place “after consultation with our NATO Allies”.
At the same time, both leaders pledged to support Kyiv “for as long as necessary”.
During the two leaders’ joint statements, the French president called the US president “Dear Joe” several times in a meeting that made clear to both sides the need to bridge their differences and move forward hand in hand.
The strength of the Allies’ ties to NATO is being tested as the war prepares to enter its 10th month of conflict.
Joe Biden says he is ready to tighten Washington’s relations with its traditional allies, the oldest of which is France.
For Emmanuel Macron, it was a good opportunity for Paris and Washington to “become comrades-in-arms again” and to open up the fan of issues for a less weakened Europe both economically and geopolitically.
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With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
