Macron and Biden celebrate “loyalty” between their countries in the shadow of Le Pen and Trump | International

It was a grand celebration of Franco-American friendship, but there was an invisible presence that made the atmosphere tense. French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed his American counterpart, Joe Biden, in Paris this Saturday with all due respect, with a state dinner and a promise of eternal loyalty. At the Elysee Palace, however, the shadow of two candidates to succeed him loomed. One is Marine Le Pen, the far-right leader in France, whose party is expected to win a landslide victory in the European elections this Sunday. The other, Donald Trump, the candidate against Biden in the November presidential elections.

Before the dinner, in a statement given to the press without asking questions, Macron thanked Biden for his “candor and loyalty to a partner who is loved and respected by Europeans.” The message was clear: If Trump, who has threatened to leave Europe unprotected against Russia, wins the election, there will no longer be someone in the White House who “loves and respects the European people.” Macron and Biden put their countries’ friendship in writing Franco-American Roadmap Which “calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and reiterates that all hostages should be released immediately without any preconditions.” According to the document, they also “discussed options to do more in support of Ukraine”. Biden warned that if Putin wins in Ukraine, “he will not stop” and “the whole of Europe will be threatened.” He said, “We will not allow this.”

The potential success of Le Pen, who seeks to succeed Macron at the Elysee in 2027 and has in the past demonstrated his closeness to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and the possibility of Trump returning to the White House will punctuate a good part of the speeches of the current French and US presidents. At the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, both pointed to the sacrifices of the soldiers of the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and other allies (“the bond of the blood shed for freedom,” the French said) as an example of the need for current battles. Macron put forward the idea of ​​sending military instructors to Ukraine, which Le Pen opposed. Taking a dig at Trump, Biden said on the Normandy beaches that “isolationism was not the answer 80 years ago and it is not the answer today.”

There is a contradiction in bilateral relations, unbroken since the founding of the United States, but always tinged with suspicion. Old misunderstandings due to the French tradition dating back to General de Gaulle of asserting France’s sovereignty before the great powers, a tradition that Macron has updated with his defense of the EU’s “strategic sovereignty.” Now the harmony is not complete, with regard to involvement in Ukraine, the degree of criticism of the Israeli government for the bombing of Gaza or whether US industrial policy will leave Europe insulated from global competition. But these differences are minor compared to what could happen if Trump comes to power again.

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