Joe Biden staged this Friday in Rome a double ceremony of reconciliation. The first, with the Catholic Church. The second, with France, an ally nuclear power, but with which a bilateral relationship that has oscillated between falling in love, disappointment, and rivalry. The meetings represent the starting point of the European Tour of Biden, which includes its participation in the 'Summit' of the G20, in which the minimum societies tax on large multinationals will be officially sanctified and, then, in COP26, The new conference on climate change, whose results are many more uncertain.
From the point of view of international politics, the most relevant was that of France. Biden met with the French president, Emanuel Macron, at a meeting meant to definitely close that has been the biggest diplomatic crisis between the two countries since 245 years ago a part of the British settlers in North America proclaimed its independence from the Government From london.
The crisis exploded a month and a half ago, with the creation of the Aukus, a military pact clearly against China between Australia, the United States, and Great Britain. France, which has a massive presence in the Pacific due to its colonies in the region, was not informed, was excluded and, on top, lost a pre-contract for the sale of twelve submarines to Australia worth 59,000 million euros at the hands of a US proposal of eight ships in exchange for 86,000 million. Macron's decision was fulminant: to withdraw the ambassadors from him in Washington and in Cambberra.
So Biden intoned the 'MEA fault'. And he did it by putting at the foot of the horses his foreign policy team, mainly his Secretary of State, Antony Blinken - who, for more Inri, is raised in France and speaks French as well as English - and his security counselor National and, until this crisis was exploded and that of Afghanistan, the 'child prodigy' of the Democratic Party on foreign and defense policy, Jake Sullivan.
The strategy of the US president was, more or less, to say that he believed that Macron knew it. "I believed that France had been informed long before the agreement [for the sale of the submarines to Australia] was not going to take place," said Biden, who called the way in which the Aukus was announced as "clumsy, and, for using an English expression, without much elegance. " Improving the present, the president of the United States stated that the country of him "does not have an older ally, more loyal, or more decent" than France.
Macron was satisfied with Biden's self-criticism, even though, if he looks a bit cynical, he simply said something about "Sorry, but getout". Perhaps that is the big difference in US policy towards Europe with Trump and with Biden: the two are on the same line, but the first adorned its decisions from Floridos insults on Twitter, often repeated by some of Him collaborators. The second does what he wants, but with good modes. And the best example will be this weekend, when on the margins of the USA and its European allies analyze Washington tariffs to EU steel and aluminum, taxes by Trump and maintained by Biden, on, with the same rule that Its predecessor: US needs to protect its Siderometalurgical industry for issues of national interest.
Be that as it may, Macron gave the incident by zanjado. "We have clarified what we had to clarify," said French President, in a mysterious sentence whose resonances undoubtedly carry the film by Luis García Berlanga 'Welcome Mr. Marshall' ("as mayor your I am, I owe you an explanation, and That explanation I am going to pay for you "). As if that is not enough, Macron made it clear that "this is an extremely important clarification."
Shortly before, in the Vatican, Biden had maintained another extremely important meeting, this time with Pope Francis. Biden is the second Catholic president of the history of the United States, but he is in danger of being denied communion from coming from next month, if US bishops decide that a politician who defends abortion can not receive that sacrament.
And there, Francisco made clear, according to Biden, his opposition to that decision. Biden responded with a brief "yes" to the question of the press of whether the Pope had told him that he could receive communion. And, at a more personal level, he declared that Francis had blessed the Rosary that introduces him always carries with him since the death of his Beau Son in 2015. The meeting with the Pope, so, leaves the bishops of the US who want to punish They bide in a complicated position, which constitutes a considerable personal and political triumph for the president.
Date Of Update: 29 October 2021, 20:25
