President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron celebrated their countries’ partnership during a state visit in Paris on Saturday.
“We are allies. We will remain allies. And these are the values, which 80 years down the road, keep us together,” Marcon said during his toast to Biden at Saturday’s state dinner.
Biden, who traveled to France last week to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day, began Saturday’s state visit with a ceremony at the Arc de Triomphe and a military parade toward the Élysée Palace. Biden and Macron held official meetings at the palace.
Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, later hosted the state dinner for Biden and first lady Jill Biden at the palace.
Macron, during his toast, said the two nations have a “long and deep friendship” and pointed to their agreement on a variety of global security issues.
“When it comes to defending our values, we stand together, so, of course, there’s something a bit special in our relationship, because you are — you’re American; we are French,” Macron said, adding later, “And when I … we see the affection that you have for France, the way in which you have been prepared to attend the Olympic and Paralympic Games, I can see that more than ever you remain your best allies. United we stand, divided we fall.”
Biden, who delivered remarks after Macron, called France “our first ally” and thanked the nation for its support dating back to the Revolutionary War.
“And ever since, we’ve remained united, unyielding, as well as unwavering in our partnership,” Biden said. “That’s what democracies do.”
“On behalf of all the American people, we want to say thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of our heart. I mean it,” he added.
The two leaders held talks on the Middle East, Ukraine and trade earlier in the day. They discussed preventing a regional escalation of Israel’s war with Hamas and Macron said they are “redoubling efforts” to avoid an escalation, especially in Lebanon, Reuters reported.
A day earlier, Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Paris, where he apologized for the gap in U.S. funding for the embattled nation.
“I apologize for the weeks of not knowing what’s going to pass in terms of funding because we had trouble getting the bill that we had to pass that had the money in it. Some of our very conservative members were holding it up. But we got it done finally,” Biden said.