Louis de Raguenel with Europe 1 and AFP 2:31 p.m., September 22, 2021, modified at 2:36 p.m., September 22, 2021
In the midst of the submarine crisis between France and the United States, Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden must meet on Wednesday afternoon, at the request of the American president.
The Head of State expects from this call "clarifications on the American choice to keep a European ally away from structuring exchanges on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific".
Emmanuel Macron will meet with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday on the open crisis between Paris and Washington over a submarine contract with Australia, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal announced.
This telephone discussion, which is to take place at 3:30 p.m., will be "an exchange of clarification" to "clarify both the conditions under which this announcement was made and also clarify the conditions for an American re-engagement in an allied relationship" , he said after the Council of Ministers.
It will be held at "the request of the President of the United States", recalled the Elysee.
A "restoration of confidence"
Emmanuel Macron awaits "clarifications on the American choice to keep a European ally away from structuring exchanges on cooperation in the Indo-Pacific", explained the presidency.
"We expect our allies to recognize that the exchanges and consultations which should have been conducted were not and that this poses a question of confidence from which it is now up to us to draw all the consequences together," she said.
The French Head of State is also awaiting "the commitment on this basis of a solid process defined in time and at a high level which will make it possible to create the conditions for restoring confidence in actions and through concrete measures. and not just by the words ".
"Concrete measures" expected by Paris
"This concerns in particular: the strategic importance of the French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific; the full recognition by our American allies of the need to strengthen European sovereignty as well as the importance of the growing engagement of Europeans for their defense and security; the common commitment in the fight against terrorism, "detailed the Elysee.
The interview between Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden must take place while Paris does not take off after the announcement, on September 15, of a new strategic alliance between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom (AUKUS), who torpedoed a mega-contract of French submarines in Canberra f