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World – Europe
Upon arrival in Paris, Pompeo wrote in a tweet on his Twitter account: “Happy to speak in Paris about the global challenges we face today, from terrorism to the Covid-19 epidemic.”
This is Pompeo’s first unilateral visit, except when he accompanied the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Pompeo added: “The United States and France have been close friends since our countries were founded and we will continue to address our common concerns together.”
The minister’s agenda, accompanied by his wife Suzanne Pompeo, does not include many appointments during the weekend, except to pay tribute to the victims of the recent attacks in France, where on October 16 the teacher Samuel Patty was killed by the offensive cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
On October 29, an attack on a church in Nice (southeast) killed three people.
Pompeo will meet on Monday morning with Emmanuel Macron and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. These meetings will take place mainly off-camera.
The French side confirmed that Pompeo had been accepted at their request and with “full transparency with the team of President-elect Joe Biden.”
Macron was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Democrat Joe Biden on his victory in the US presidential election and then spoke with him by phone, even though Republican President Donald Trump has yet to acknowledge his defeat.
Pompeo refused, before the start of his tour that includes countries in Europe and the Middle East, in which Paris was the first stop, to recognize Biden’s victory.
“There will be a smooth transition to a second administration for Trump,” he said Tuesday, before criticizing foreign leaders who had contacted the Democrat.
The talks in Paris are expected to be clouded by tensions on other issues.
Le Drian warned that he would oppose, opposite Pompeo, an acceleration of the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan and Iraq, whose timetable had been set by Trump before the end of his official term on January 20.
The talks will also focus on “transatlantic unity,” which has often been abused during the Trump era, as well as fighting terrorism, according to the State Department.
