Paris: President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday held talks by visiting the Secretary of the United States, Antony Blinken in his first meeting with an American official since the former submarine contract with Australia distance the relationship into the crisis.
Blinken, who has tried to patch relationships with France after Canberra discarded the agreement as part of the security pact with England and the US, did not initially have a promise with Macron on the agenda for a two-day visit to Paris.
One one-on-one meeting lasts about 40 minutes by “general agreement that we have the opportunity now to deepen and strengthen coordination” though “a lot of hard work to be done”, a senior department official told reporters in Paris.
Elysee also confirmed the meeting with Macron, said Blinken’s visit would contribute to “restore trust” between sides.
Macron was very angry last month when Australia canceled the multibillion-dollar agreement for the French submarine, said it would pursue the US nuclear version.
His government called secret negotiations leading to the cancellation of “stabbing behind” and the French President remembered his ambassador from Washington and Canberra.
US President Joe Biden has tried to redeem mistakes, with Karen Donfried, Assistant Secretary of State for European affairs, acknowledging last week that “September 15 announcement will benefit from a better and more open allied consultation between allies”.
Blinken on Tuesday previously met with French colleagues Jean-Yves Le Drian for one hour in what the Le Drian spokesman had marked as an opportunity to “identify the stages that allowed the return of trust between our two countries”.
He then went to Elysee Palace for a scheduled meeting with the security adviser Macron Emmanuel Bonne, but “then has one on one with President Macron may be around 30 or 40 minutes”, said the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The atmosphere of the meeting was “serious”, the official said.
“I don’t want to characterize their emotions, but I would say, at least in the discussion we had, it was very friendly and friendly.” French diplomatic sources, who asked not to be named, said that the conversation showed that the Americans were aware of the gravity of the situation.
“It’s not an hourly hours to make things better and America also don’t think that hugging is the right thing now or saying that ‘we are the best allies in the world’,” the source said.
Blinken’s journey to Paris has been scheduled before the barap submarines erupted, and to focus on organizational meetings for economic and development cooperation (OECD), a club-state club mostly rich.
The Fallout has been expected to hang a stay for two days, with the US acknowledging that improving bonds “will take time and will take hard work and need to be shown not only in words but also in actions”.
But there were also signs that France had begun to soften his attitude, after Biden spoke by telephone with Macron.
After the conversation, the French leader sent an ambassador back to Washington where he was given a meeting with Blinken and also with Jake Sullivan, Biden National Security Advisor.
Biden now hopes to meet Macron, according to the US climate messenger John Kerry, also in Paris for the OECD meeting.
Kerry told BFMTV broadcasters on Monday night that Biden had asked for his opinion about submarines, and that the President had not fully aware of his impact on France.
Macron while still angry with Australia, and the old round of Australia-EU free trade talks has been postponed a month.
Canberra announced the decision of the submarine for joining a new alliance with the United Kingdom and the United States, nicknamed aukus, one of the series of initiatives by Biden seen against China as a concern of the United States.
While in Paris, Blinken will also address the minister’s meeting for the 60-year anniversary of Paris-based OECD.
The meeting will see promoting the green economy, a month before the UN climate negotiations are high in Glasgow.