Signs of détente between Washington and Paris: After the serious rift in the submarine dispute, US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron want to meet in person in October. During a phone call on Wednesday, the two agreed to meet in Europe at the end of October, according to a joint statement that the two governments subsequently published. Macron also decided that the French ambassador should return to Washington next week.

A few days ago, without consulting its allies, the USA announced a new security pact with Australia and Great Britain in the Indo-Pacific, thus triggering a deep diplomatic crisis with France.

The pact shattered a multi-billion dollar submarine deal between Australia and France, which led to angry reactions in Paris.

Macron had the ambassadors from the USA and Australia temporarily withdrawn - an extremely unusual measure among allies.

No decision had yet been made about the recalled French ambassador in Canberra, the French said on Wednesday.

A process of intensive consultation

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian had complained in the dispute with unusually sharp words about the advance of the partners.

He called the decision, among other things, "brutal" and compared Biden's approach with that of the former US President Donald Trump.

Biden had finally asked Macron to call him to settle the differences.

The French President, in turn, had announced shortly beforehand what exactly he expected from the conversation.

The joint statement was very much based on this previously widespread - and sometimes cumbersome - choice of words from Élysée circles. The statement accompanying the phone call said, among other things, that the presidents had agreed that the situation had "benefited" from "open consultations between the allies" on issues of strategic interest to France and the European partners. The presidents agreed to start a process of intensive consultations in order to create the conditions, guarantee trust and propose concrete steps with a view to common goals. The aim of the meeting is "to achieve a common understanding and to maintain the momentum in this process".

The G20 summit, the meeting of the 20 most important industrial nations, including the USA and France, is due to take place in Rome at the end of October.

Biden is supposed to travel to Europe anyway.

It was initially unclear whether the meeting with Macron should take place on the sidelines of the summit or separately.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in Washington the details are still being worked out.

She said the phone call from Biden and Macron lasted about 30 minutes and was friendly in tone.

The US president hopes the conversation will be a step back to normal.

When asked whether Biden had apologized to Macron, Psaki replied evasively: The president had acknowledged that there could have been a better vote.

The focus of the conversation was on how to proceed.

In the joint statement after the phone call, it was said that Biden had also reaffirmed the strategic importance of the French and European engagement in the Indo-Pacific and that he would give more support to the anti-terrorist efforts of Europeans in the Sahel zone. Macron had also requested such clarifications and commitments in advance.

On Wednesday, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, government representatives from both countries met again for the first time since the upheavals. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterpart Le Drian met at a conference on Libya at the invitation of Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in the German UN mission in New York and shook hands. Le Drian had previously canceled a four-person meeting with Blinken, Maas and the new British Foreign Minister Liz Truss, which was actually also planned for Wednesday.

Maas had criticized the conclusion of the Indo-Pacific Pact on Tuesday as “irritating” and “sobering”. He is now hoping to ease the dispute. “It is important that the irritations that exist are removed from the world,” said Maas. There are too many issues on which Europe and the USA depend on good cooperation. The impression arose that different strategies were being pursued in the Indo-Pacific. “But I think that's not really the case. You have to talk about it now in order to avoid further misunderstandings in public. "