Thursday, December 1, Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron were welcomed with great fanfare to the White House by the President of the United States Joe Biden. One of the primary goals of this visit was to reaffirm and display the Franco-American alliance, as reported by our colleagues from Le Monde. Faced with the war in Ukraine, the two countries are united and happy to collaborate. Joe Biden said in his speech, “America could not ask for a better partner to work with.”
A somewhat unexpected point on which the two leaders explained that they wanted to synchronize their approaches: investment in green energies. Their goal would be to trigger a “mutually beneficial” ecological transition… The leaders of the two countries also underlined their mutual understanding regarding the invasion of Ukraine and expressed their support for this country at war against Russia for now nearly 10 months.
During the welcome ceremony at the White House in which the two presidential couples took part on Thursday, December 1, Joe Biden put his counterpart Emmanuel Macron in a barely concealed embarrassment… Indeed, after his brief speech on the importance and the strength of the Franco-American alliance, the American leader shakes hands with President Macron, as required by the protocol of propriety.
Obviously, this handshake is very important for the cameras and the reporters rush to capture the moment. However, while the French translation of the speech is not yet finished, said handshake seems to no longer end, as reported by The Independent. It will have lasted almost 42 seconds in total! We also see that Emmanuel Macron tries several times to escape the grip of his colleague, without much success. Once the end of the translation of the speech has been pronounced, the American President releases his grip, and Emmanuel Macron pats him on the shoulder, relieved.
