Foreign pool report #5 Background President Macron's visit

Bonjour,

I’ll be your foreign pooler for French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the White House. Here are some background infos, don’t hesitate if you have any questions.

Schedule:

French President Emmanuel Macron landed yesterday night at 7.35pm in Washington DC.

The President spent the night at the Blair House.

He participated at 8am in a videoconference with G7 members, in the Oval Office.

12.15pm President Macron’s arrival at the White House

12.20pm Bilat, Oval Office (In House pool)

12.35pm Bilat and working lunch

2pm Joint press conference

4pm President Macron meets with Senators in Congress

7.30pm Departing from Washington DC to Paris

French delegation members:

French Foreign Minister Jean-No�l Barrot

French Economy Minister Eric Lombard

General Secretary of the Elys�e Alexis Kohler

Chief of Military Staff (Chef de l’�tat-major particulier du Pr�sident) Fabien Mandon

America's adviser to the President Walid Fouque

President Macron’s top diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne

President Macron’s advisor Paul Soler

Ambassador of France to the United States Laurent Bili

Priorities for the bilateral meeting:

Per l’Elys�e, President Macron’s visit is part of a series of regular contacts that President Macron has maintained with President Trump since his re-election.

According to French officials, Macron enjoys a rare advantage over other European leaders in that he has built a “unique relationship” with Donald Trump, a relationship they forged during President Trump’s first term.

During his visit, President Macron and President Trump will discuss all of the subjects that are central to the French-US strategic partnership, with a particular emphasis on Russia’s war against Ukraine.

With respect to Ukraine, we are moving forward with our fellow Europeans in a spirit of unity, holding meetings on Ukraine and European security on Monday, followed by another meeting on Wednesday. As the President said during his live video on social media, France shares President Trump’s goal of ending Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. That is the spirit in which he is traveling to Washington, to support this goal. He will present proposals for actions that reflect the areas of agreement that emerged and were reaffirmed during the meetings and during bilateral talks – particularly with our British partners.

He is traveling to Washington with this goal in mind, sharing this desire to end the conflict while making every effort to maintain our support for Ukraine, strengthen European security and ensure that Ukraine is fully involved in these efforts, and to ensure that Ukraine’s interests – which are ours as well – are fully taken into account.

On Saturday, President Macron’s said “I am going there to say that the security of the French and the Europeans is important”

The French economy minister is part of the French delegation for this visit and trade should also be part of the discussions.

Background info:

Last Monday, European leaders held a hastily-arranged summit in Paris, a day before US-Russia talks in Saudi Arabia. Last Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron held a new meeting on Ukraine with European and NATO leaders in a bid to coordinate a response to what he called an "existential threat" from Russia.

"The position of France and its allies is clear and united. We wish for peace in Ukraine that is lasting," President Macron wrote on X after the meeting with the leaders of 19 countries including Canada.

Last Thursday, during a little bit more than a one-hour question and answer session on social media, President Macron said that he’ll tell Trump when he meets with him : “‘You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?’” President Macron also said that Trump’s strategy to create “uncertainty” could be good for Western allies: Putin “doesn’t know what he (Trump) is going to do, he thinks (Trump) is capable of anything” “This uncertainty is good for us and for Ukraine.”

He also said he is going to try to convince Trump that the US interests and Europeans’ interests are the same: “If you let Russia take over Ukraine, it would be unstoppable.” He made clear that any peace deal must be negotiated with Ukrainians around the table “We want peace. But we don’t want a ceasefire that means Ukraine surrendering, because that’s dangerous. And we know that would lead to Russia going further. We’ve already experienced it”

Macron also said he was ready to answer Trump’s call to increase defense spending. “Us, Europeans, we must increase our war effort” France spends just over 2 percent of its gross domestic product on the military.

He was asked by one of the French viewer on social media if he was considering sending French troops to Ukraine, he replied: “We don’t rule out, within a framework planned with our allies, the possibility of having forces which, once peace has been negotiated, could contribute to guaranteeing Ukraine’s security”

On Friday, Trump said that Macron and Starmer "haven’t done anything" since 2022 to end the war in Ukraine, in a Fox news radio interview.

Last meeting Trump/Macron:

Their last meeting was on December 7, 2024, when French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed President elect Donald Trump in Paris as the two held a meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy before celebrating the reopening of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral.

Their last phone call was on February 17 when French President Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump spoke on the phone minutes before Macron greeted European dignitaries who had gathered to discuss security in Paris.

The French president's office said the "frank conversation" lasted 20 minutes.

A White House official described the conversation as "friendly" and said the two leaders talked about "the Ukraine War, the upcoming meeting of European nations tomorrow, and the talks in Saudi Arabia between U.S. and Russian officials."

President Macron was the first state visit of the first Trump administration

Relationship:

In a recent interview with Fox News, President Trump said that he considered Macron to be a "friend".

During the question-and-answer session on social media last week, Macron said "Trump, I know him. I respect him and I believe he respects me,"

The beginning of the Trump/Macron relationship was on full display during the summer of 2017, when the American President first traveled to France. Their bond was once dubbed a “bromance” by US and French media.

During a visit by President Macron to the White House in April 2018, they kissed each other’s cheeks in greeting and praised on each other. But by the end of 2018, their relationship began to sour and tension arised.

President Macron said that the United States under Trump seemed to be “turning its back on us.” He failed to persuade Trump to stay in the Paris climate agreement and the international deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. On Nov 9, 2018, Trump kicked off his trip to Paris by tweeting that Macron's proposal for a "true European army," was "very insulting) "

Their relationship have improved since, French President Emmanuel Macron warmly welcomed Donald Trump back to the White House when he was elected, he has beaten other leaders to congratulate Trump on his election victory. The French president wrote on X he was “ready to work together” with Trump.

Trump attended the reopening of the Notre-Dame cathedral in December, and they have talked by telephone regularly since.

Bio

Emmanuel Macron is 47 years old.

He was first elected in May 2017, becoming at 39, the youngest ever French President. He has been a member of Renaissance since he founded it in 2016 (originally known as En Marche!). He was reelected to a 2nd term in the 2022 Presidential election.

Although he had been a member of the Socialist Party earlier in life and served under a Socialist President, he ran on a centrist, pro-European movement (En Marche), which he founded a year prior to the Presidential election.

After a shattering defeat in May’s 2024 European Parliament election, his decision to call a snap election has backfired.

the New Popular Front (NFP), a cluster of left-wing parties, won 182 seats in the National Assembly, short of a majority but ahead of both Macron’s centrist bloc and the far right.

In recent years, his support has shifted to the right and he has been criticized from voters on the left. He has been nicknamed “President of the Rich”.

Macron studied at the Jesuit Institute Lyc�e (high school) la Providence in Amiens before he went to the elite lyc�e in Paris”Henri-IV).

He is married to Brigitte Macron, his former teacher at La Providence lyc�e. She is 25 years his senior. They met during a theatre workshop she was giving when he was 15 and she was 39.

Macron’s parents attempted to separate them by sending him away to Paris to finish the final year of his Lyc�e (hih school)

Macron wrote in his autobiography that his grandparents were a teacher, a railway worker, a social worker and a road engineer.

People close to him often says that his maternal grandmother, Manette, the teacher, was one of the important person to him. They were very closed and she introduced him to literature and culture.

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Sonia Dridi

Correspondante � Washington DC

Washington DC Correspondent

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