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Paris (AFP) – US President Donald Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron for talks in Paris on Saturday before the World War I commemoration weekend, which may be overshadowed by a dispute over Macron calls to a European army, which Trump called "insulting". ".
Trump and Macron shook hands on the steps of the Elysee and Trump gave a thumbs-up sign before the talks entered, during which they will try to defuse the differences regarding European defense, among others.
No sooner has he landed in Paris than he triggers a tweet reproaching his host for proposing to endow the EU with his own army.
"French President Macron has just suggested to Europe to have its own army in order to protect itself from the United States, China and Russia", tweeted the American president last Friday, referring to by Macron three days earlier.
"Very insulting, but maybe Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the United States subsidizes greatly!", He added.
His tweet about Macron's proposals in defense of the EU – which arrived just hours before the talks at the Elysee – evoked the call of the French leader in an interview granted on Tuesday. a "real European army".
In his radio interview, Macron said that a common military force of the European Union was needed to separate Europe from all-American power, especially after Trump had announced that he was retiring from a nuclear treaty dating back to the Cold War.
Referring also to the cyber interference in the elections in the West, he said: "We must protect ourselves with regard to China, Russia and even the United States".
Macron's office acknowledged Saturday that his remarks "could be confusing" but stressed: "He never said that a European army was needed against the United States".
Saturday morning, Trump was more conciliatory.
"I'm in Paris to prepare to celebrate the end of the First World War, is there anything else to celebrate that the end of a war, especially one that was one of the bloodiest and worst of all time? ", he tweeted. .
The American leader and his wife, Melania, are on their second visit to Paris since July 2017, while Trump was Macron's guest of honor at the July 14 celebrations in Paris.
The quarrel over European defense took place at the start of a weekend of commemorations gathering 70 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
– Bilateral interviews, then lunch –
After discussions on issues including Syria and Iran, Macron and Trump will be joined by their wives, Melania and Brigitte, for lunch.
The last time the Macrons hosted the Trumps in Paris in July 2017, during the July 14 celebrations, they took them to the Eiffel Tower for a private dinner on the second floor.
The tone of this visit will be much less festive.
Trump is scheduled to visit two American cemeteries over the weekend, which will end with a solemn ceremony Sunday on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe.
The US isolationist leader, however, avoided a peace conference on Sunday, which Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel intend to use as a platform for promoting multilateralism.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters in Paris on Friday that the president had "a lot of urgent issues" to deal with.
Trump and Macron have forged warm relationships, especially during the US leader's first visit to Paris, but have clashed several times since then on a growing number of issues, including the withdrawal of the US government. America's 2015 Paris climate agreement and the Iranian nuclear deal.
Macron has repeatedly called on the EU to strengthen its defense capabilities against Trump's demands that the EU take on a greater share of the financial burden to ensure its own security.
While the nine-nation European NATO Rapid Reaction Force is under discussion, proposals to build a comprehensive EU army with a joint command remain in place. extremely sensitive.
– Meeting in the clearing –
Commemorations of the First World War mark a turning point for the liberal post-war order: anti-immigration populists at the helm in the United States and Brazil, sharing power in Italy and realizing solid gains in Germany, pushing Merkel to announce that she is retiring in 2021.
Macron on Friday met British Prime Minister Theresa May near the Belgian border to try to advance an agreement on Brexit and remember the dead on the battlefields of the Somme.
Saturday afternoon, he will visit the city of Compiegne, in the north of the country, where the armistice ending the First World War was signed by the Allies and Germany in a train car in a clearing, November 11 1918.
Macron will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the site, during a visit symbolizing the close ties between two countries that waged three wars between 1870 and 1945.
