Europe 1 with AFP 6:37 p.m., October 5, 2021, modified at 7:25 p.m., October 5, 2021

Three weeks after the outbreak of the crisis between the United States and France, over the order for submarines canceled by Australia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was in Paris on Tuesday. The head of American diplomacy had "a long tête-à-tête" with Emmanuel Macron to "help restore confidence" between the two countries.

Emmanuel Macron received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday in Paris in a studious but non-effusive atmosphere, to prepare the "concrete decisions" that the French President and Joe Biden will announce at the end of October in order to seal reconciliation after an unprecedented crisis.

The "long tête-à-tête", which was not initially on the agenda, should "help restore confidence between France and the United States" after the submarine crisis, said the French presidency .

A "positive" and "productive" interview

A French diplomatic source assured that the Americans take seriously the anger of their long-time ally, and do not just try to "hug". According to a senior American official, who praised a "positive" and "productive" interview, there is "mutual agreement that we now have an opportunity to deepen and strengthen coordination", particularly in the area of ​​defense. "But a lot of difficult work remains to be done to identify the concrete decisions" which will be submitted to the two presidents for their own meeting scheduled for the end of October in Europe, he explained.

The cold snap erupted on September 15, when the President of the United States announced a new alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom in the Indo-Pacific region, as part of his top international priority: countering China. . This partnership, called AUKUS, aroused rare anger from France because it torpedoed a mega-contract for French submarines with the Australians.

It took a phone call Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron, after a freezing week, to start a certain warming.

The tenant of the White House has publicly made amends on the method.

And the two heads of state have launched a "process of in-depth consultations".

According to the senior American official, the atmosphere on Tuesday was "serious", and the conversations no longer focused on the French recriminations about AUKUS as at the height of the crisis.

Colder reception from Le Drian

The Parisian reunion was nevertheless marked by a less warm welcome than in the past.

The head of French diplomacy Jean-Yves Le Drian admittedly received his counterpart one-on-one at the Quai d'Orsay for a long time before the formal meeting, but he only appeared at

a minimum

with him, without a conference of common press.

In June, the French minister warmly launched "welcome home" to Antony Blinken, a perfect French speaker who lived in the French capital throughout his adolescence and considers France as his "second homeland".

Since mid-September, change of tone: Jean-Yves Le Drian has denounced a "blow in the back" worthy of the lone rider of the Trump era, so much hated on the French side.

To show that France is not isolated, the minister has stepped up exchanges with his European counterparts on Monday and Tuesday.

"This crisis brings into play the interests of all Europeans concerning the functioning of our alliances and the engagement of Europeans in the Indo-Pacific", insists a French diplomatic source.