He confirmed the existence of a crisis with America related to the loss of confidence

INTERVIEW... Philip Etienne: Paris withdrew the ambassador to show Washington how frustrated it is

Eteni: You cannot change the geography and Russia is our neighbour.

archival

The French ambassador to the United States, Philippe Etienne, said from his residence in Washington that his country intends to turn the recent crisis with Washington into opportunities.

He said in an interview with "Foreign Policy" magazine that Paris withdrew the ambassador to show its ally Washington the extent of its frustration.

Here are excerpts from the interview:

■ France has not withdrawn its ambassador from Washington before.

Although relations were poor during the administration of former President Donald Trump.

But you were patient, why did you do that now during the administration of President Joe Biden?

■■ The issue is not about our patience. During the Trump administration, we disagreed with him on many of the decisions he took.

For example, when Trump announced his withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, our president reacted quickly and on the same day.

But the issue was not bilateral at the time and was about preserving the Paris Agreement.

The issue is completely different now, it is a bilateral crisis of loss of confidence, and we have seen that the best way to respond is to withdraw the ambassador.

■ Some in Washington said that when you withdrew the ambassador, France was facing an outsized confrontation.

■■ I don't know who said that, but anyway, that was our decision.

We didn't mean to punish or think we were important or unimportant, but because it was the right way to express our frustration with what happened.

In fact, when you know how close the relations are between our armies and our security services, I can say that France is an important partner in the security and military sphere, and they know what we can do.

■ Your foreign minister said that this matter could have been done by the Trump administration, but who did the Biden administration do, is this an accusation of the Biden administration that it continues to implement Trump's policies?

■■ You know that any government has to take into account the interests of its people.

And in Europe we have to do this.

And when we say we want European sovereignty in the world as it is, we mean that we want to protect the interests of our people.

It is obvious that every government must look after the interests of its people, which means that there will be elements of continuity between one administration and another, not only in the United States, but also in other democracies.

■ You have always been on the side of the United States, but in one way or another you are independent of it.

■■ We agree on the basic issues, but I think we are a sincere ally.

We speak when we disagree, and we are not always supposed to get along.

I think the United States needs such allies.

■ What exactly do you mean when you talk about European sovereignty and strategic independence?

■■ Regarding the concept of European sovereignty, it means the sovereignty of the European countries that formed the European Union.

The basic principle is that it is acceptable to pool sovereignty because we will be stronger together.

In some areas we have to distribute powers as we do in trade policy.

For example there is the European Union Trade Policy which represents all the members of the European Union.

The idea here is that if European countries, which are sovereign states, want to protect their interests, they have to work together as the European Union because it will be stronger.

■ What about Russia? During the G7 and NATO meeting, the United States was focusing on China, while Europe sees China as a challenge in the long run, but Russia is an imminent threat.

■■ You can not change the geography, because Russia is within Europe and our neighbor.

But we note that President Biden decided to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and that the United States decided to open a dialogue with Russia.

So I don't think we fundamentally disagree about the way we deal with Russia.

Our only question as Europeans is related to the security of Europe and the security of European countries.

• "Our only question is related to the security of Europe and the security of European countries."

Follow our latest local and sports news and the latest political and economic developments via Google news