Space cooperation and the environment, some of the points discussed by Macron in the US

During his first day of activities, during the three-day state visit to the United States, President Emmanuel Macron lamented that space has become a “new scenario of conflicts” due to the development by some nations of creating technologies capable of to launch attacks against satellites in the search to affect global communications.

Macron, who is on his second state visit to the United States since taking office in 2017, stressed the need to establish rules for operating the space.

“Unfortunately, space is a new scenario of possible and threatening conflicts. Building together new rules for behavior in space is a big task for the immediate future,” Macron said.

While neither Harris nor Macron himself issued views directly against China and Russia, the comments about the risk of the militarization of space lay bare a shared vision between Washington and Paris.

It is worth remembering that, in the past, both the United States and France have accused Beijing and Moscow of using space for military purposes, citing as an example the launching of satellites for espionage purposes.

Harris, for his part, highlighted the necessary “peaceful use” of space while indicating that it must be governed by the same respect for the rules that regulate relations between nations on the planet.

The US vice president recalled that, during her visit to Paris in 2021, an era of space cooperation between France and the United States began, so the activity carried out on November 30 served to seal this new stage.

But, according to the Spanish media ‘ABC’, relations between France and the United States in this field are not new. During the administrations of Barack Obama in the United States and François Hollande, both countries collaborated by exchanging information which, thanks to the data collected by the satellites of the two countries, made it possible to detect and neutralize various members of the Al Qaeda group.

However, the new cooperation agreement will also have a civil dimension, as announced by the vice president.

Harris, who received the president accompanied by the French astronauts: Sophie Adenot and Thomas Pesquet, highlighted the importance of France signing the so-called Artemis Agreements, an international treaty carried out by NASA with the aim of establishing a cooperation framework for exploration civil and peaceful use of the Moon, Mars or any asteroid in the solar system.

For France, the new agreement with the United States could have important repercussions, in addition to the technological area, in the commercial and industrial sectors. For this reason, Macron traveled to the American Union accompanied by businessmen.

Biodiversity and nuclear energy, other issues on Macron’s agenda

After the meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris, Macron went to the French Embassy in Washington for an exchange with representatives of the Joe Biden administration on nuclear energy.

According to the US media ‘The Washington Post’, the French president’s intention was to promote the “renaissance” of the use of nuclear energy and for this reason he is accompanied by important players in that industrial sector who are part of the support to promote its use and export of technology.

However, the meeting comes at a delicate moment for France regarding nuclear energy. The aforementioned outlet points out that contractors from the United States and Canada have traveled to France to help after security concerns caused the closure of half of the nuclear power plants.

Additionally, Macron spoke about biodiversity with different representatives of the US Congressional Caucus.

“Biodiversity is obviously completely correlated with climate change. It is impossible to separate these two issues. And what we want to do, since we organized COP21, our perspective was precisely to try to resynchronize, because our planet and our nature is part of the solution Part of what we need to solve the problem of climate change is to capture carbon, but also preserve it. We have to face and protect many species that are fighting against extinction, it is absolutely part of what we have to do to preserve balances and sustainability of our oceans or seas and our soil,” said the French head of state.

Macron pays tribute to the French urban planner responsible for the design of Washington

In a day full of activities, President Emmanuel Macron visited Arlington National Cemetery where the graves of some 300,000 American soldiers and a Frenchman, Pierre Charles l’Enfant, the architect who worked on the design of the city of Washington, are located. United States capital.

Macron took advantage of the visit to the cemetery to place a white flower on the tomb of Pierre Charles l’Enfant, located at the top of the cemetery hill.

Additionally, the Head of State participated in the placement of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Macron also participated in a tribute to the soldiers of World War II and then held a meeting with the French community in the city of Washington, prior to being received for a dinner at the White House at night.

With information from Reuters, EFE, AP and French media