Dispelling misconceptions and give back to the France place of ally of Washington in Europe. This is the objective of the visit of two days of Nicolas Sarkozy in the US, which starts today in New York. After trying - hard - to hear the voice of the France at the European Summit in Brussels, the head of State continued his business of reconquest of French opinion via the international. The high point of the visit is, tomorrow, a maintenance of a time with Barack Obama, followed by a dinner "strictly private" between the two presidential couples. For the Elysee, such dinner without precedent, organized in the apartments of the White House, is a tangible sign "of esteem and attention" by Barack Obama to his French counterpart, and "the opportunity to deny once and for all" the rumours of "distance" between the two heads of State.
Ten days after the electoral defeat of the UMP in the regional and a few months of the double French Presidency of the G20 and G8 which will begin in November, the presidential entourage does not hide the political benefits that he hoped this visit. The image of two heads of State who, despite their respective internal turbulence, know how to agree and continue the cap of a new global balance: this is the return expected the Elysee. For its part, Washington wants to erase the impression of a certain coldness had given last June, the visit of Barack Obama on the Normandy beaches.
Differences remain
But for the US, expected meeting, held in two weeks at the Summit on nuclear safety on 12 and 13 April in Washington, signs of confirmation of support on the Iran, the Afghanistan and the Middle East peace process. "Nicolas Sarkozy has proved a very constant and useful ally in our approach to the Iran" General James Jones, of Barack Obama national security adviser, stressed in an interview with several foreign newspapers, on the eve of the visit, including welcoming the return of the France in the military structure of NATO. But will the two heads of State speak also of financial reform and the evolution of exchange rates, two subjects on which remain differences of appreciation. In the wake of the adoption of the reform of health by the Congress, the administration Obama is well determined to accelerate the adoption of the draft financial reform by Congress before the summer, in line with the recommendations of the G20 in Pittsburgh in September 2009. But differences remain with Brussels and Paris on the regulation of hedge funds, the regulation of the own funds and the review of the remuneration of the financial sector. Even if a temporary solution was found in the Greek crisis, Nicolas Sarkozy should raise issues related to the decline of the euro against the dollar and European frustration on the strengthening of the regulation of derivatives (credit default swaps), after the recent speculative attacks against the euro.
Finally, in the wake of his joint communiqué with Chancellor Angela Merkel on the American protectionist temptations, the subject of reopening EADS to tender for the renewal of the US Air Force tanker aircraft remains on the table.
"The subject of us protectionism is sensitive." But this will never be a scourge that will poison the transatlantic relationship; "it is rather the lack of common position on the financial reform and climate change which is of concern," said Nicholas Dungan, Senior Advisor of the Iris in New York. On the merits, it is a "more political than business" visit, also said the Elysee. In fact, the French delegation does not heads of business, but two Ministers - Bernard Kouchner and Christine Lagarde - and a dozen academics (including Lionel Collet, Antoine companion, Richard Descoings, Jean-Paul Fitoussi).
The head of State begins his visit this morning in New York by a Conference at Columbia University devoted to friendship Franco-American, followed by a dialogue with students. In the aftermath, he will meet this afternoon the Secretary General of the United Nation, Ban Ki-moon, to draw lessons from the failure of the Copenhagen Summit and to discuss the reform of the United Nations. Tomorrow morning, he will meet with Congress Democratic Senator John Kerry, rapporteur of the climate-energy bill.
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