“I want to be very clear: France is an extremely, extremely valuable partner,” emphasized Biden.
(Photo: AP)
Rome At a meeting with French head of state Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden described the way in which a new security alliance with Australia had been forged as “clumsy”. He had the impression that France had been informed before the new pact was announced, Biden said in Rome on Friday.
Because of the new alliance, which was announced without consultation, France had lost an armaments contract worth billions. “I want to be very clear: France is an extremely, extremely valuable partner,” emphasized Biden. The US had not behaved particularly decently towards its oldest ally France, said Biden: “What we did was awkward”.
Macron also seemed very keen to leave the argument behind. What counts now is to ensure that there can be no more such misunderstandings in the future. It is now a matter of creating an even stronger cooperation with the USA, said Macron. From the Elysée Palace it had been said in advance that the meeting was about “restoring trust”.
France is trying to work more closely with the US military and secret services in the African Sahel. According to French government sources, Macron wanted the US to commit to increased support for counter-terrorism operations in the region. Other topics were China, Afghanistan and Iran, particularly with regard to the Iranian promise to hold talks again on the country’s nuclear program.
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The dispute between the NATO partners came when the USA announced a new security alliance for the South Pacific with Great Britain and Australia in September. According to this, Australia should be given access to US technology for the construction and operation of nuclear submarines.
That meant France lost a multi-billion dollar diesel-powered submarine business to Australia. This had led to angry reactions in Paris and raised doubts about the reliability of the transatlantic partnership. As a result, France even withdrew its ambassadors to the partner countries for a time.
More: The controversial submarine deal shows how easily Europe can be passed over in the struggle of the great powers