A gripping meeting for buoyant Macron
French leader’s marathon handshake seals a diplomatic coup as he turns Trump visit to his advantage
A 25-SECOND handshake yesterday sealed US President Donald Trump’s Bastille Day visit to Paris, widely seen as a diplomatic coup for his host, Emmanuel Macron.
Mr Trump clapped continuously as guest of honour at France’s traditional military parade, which this year commemorated the 100th anniversary of the US entry into the First World War.
The two men stood side by side with their wives, chatting animatedly as American and French warplanes thundered over the Champs-elysees.
Mr Trump saluted as US troops, including some dressed in First World War uniform, marched past.
It capped a 24-hour visit that posed a political risk for Mr Macron in a country where public anger against Mr Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accords is high.
But the 39-year old French president – still basking in the honeymoon period after his election – turned the trip to his advantage. Underscoring the historic friendship between France and the US, he stressed that while the pair still had “disagreements”, it was wrong to isolate Mr Trump.
He carefully sidestepped the US president’s domestic woes, and in return received a glimmer of hope for a reversal in Trump doctrine on climate.
Six out of 10 French people surveyed approved the French president’s decision to invite the US president.
“Donald Trump doesn’t like weakness, people who tend to fawn and flatter,” François Heisbourg, a former Macron defence adviser told CNN. “This is probably where Macron was effective – the white knuckle handshake certainly grabbed Trump’s attention.”
By contrast, he said: “Theresa May was seen as rushing to Washington more or less desperate to get Trump’s attention. That has not been the Macron style.”
In a speech near the end of the event, Mr Macron thanked the US for intervening in the First World War and said the fact that Mr Trump was at his side “is the sign of a friendship across the ages”. To applause, he added that “nothing will ever separate us”.
The US president returned the compliment, tweeting that it was a “great honour” to attend the “magnificent” parade.
They then engaged in an interminable hand clasp before Mr Trump was whisked away in his motorcade. Mr Trump at one point pulled the smaller Mr Macron off balance and held fast as they approached their wives. Even then, Mr Trump held on to Mr Macron’s hand as he shook hands with Mr Macron’s wife, Brigitte.
The only perceived Trump faux pas was his compliment to Mrs Macron.
“You know, you’re in such great shape... beautiful,” Mr Trump told Mrs Macron, 64, the previous day, a comment which some suggested was “inappropriate”.
As for predicted protests, crowds did gather holding banners with messages such as “Save the planet, resist Trump”, but nowhere near the US president.
The only cloud for Mr Macron was a row with his military chief of staff, General de Villiers, who had openly criticised €850 million (£745 million) defence cuts this year, telling MPS he would not be “screwed over” by the government.
Mr Macron hit back that he was, as “boss” of the armed forces, he regretted Gen de Villiers’ lack of “reserve”, prompting speculation his days were numbered. The pair nevertheless stood side by side in an open-topped military vehicle at the parade.
After Mr Trump’s departure, Mr Macron flew directly to the Riviera town of Nice for a ceremony commemorating the 86 victims of the Islamist truck attack last year. Two former French presidents, Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande, also attended.
In a moving ceremony, actors read a text by Jean-marie Gustave Le Clézio, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, and from Nice, who “cursed” the terrorist and called on residents to remember the victims as “marvellous butterflies” fluttering above the town.
Much of politics is about perspective. When Theresa May met Donald Trump at the White House and congratulated him on his election victory, the Left howled with rage. Yesterday, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, was host to the same man at France’s Bastille Day celebrations and was congratulated. France is right to court the world’s strongest power; so is Britain. Why does one earn praise for it while the other is ridiculed? Because the criticism is informed by political subjectivity, a subjectivity that is also misrepresenting Brexit.
Most voters, even those that voted Remain, have come to accept that Brexit will happen. A small but powerful minority refuse to give in, and in terms so hyperbolic that it questions their common sense. Lord Adonis, for example, has likened Brexit to appeasement in the 1930s. The comparison is tasteless and inaccurate. Appeasement represented a withdrawal from international responsibilities, yes, but Brexit represents a withdrawal from European parochialism. It is Europe, not the UK, which is inward-looking, protectionist, overregulated and arcane. Britain has long strained at the leash of its EU membership precisely because its ambitions lie further afield.
If appeasement could be crudely characterised as putting off difficult decisions, Brexit is actually about embracing change – and it is the militant Remainers who embody procrastination. This week they stepped forward with a list of demands related to the Great Repeal Bill, ranging from petty grabs for devolved powers to attempts to render Brexit moot by, say, keeping the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice or maintaining all of the EU’S employment laws. And then there is the absurd demand that Britain remains within the single market for an indefinite period, which would leave many asking why Britain voted to leave at all.
The Government must not compromise with those who seek to undermine the stated will of the people. Nor should it back away from inviting Mr Trump to visit Britain. The two issues are linked: Britain’s future is as a free trading nation with global influence. What militant Remainers denounce as Brexit’s challenges, the clear-eyed can see as opportunities. It is up to the Government to explain this, and to inject greater ambition and passion into the case for Brexit.