Landing: Emmanuel Macron begins the commemorations, while waiting for Joe Biden

American President Joe Biden is expected in France on Wednesday where his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron is launching the commemorations of the Allied Landings of June 6, 1944 with the desire to display Western unity against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

Joe Biden is due to land in Paris in the morning and will reach the beaches of Normandy (northwest) on Thursday for the 80th anniversary of D-Day, where he will meet King Charles III, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the head of state Italian Sergio Mattarella but also Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Joe Biden must speak during the official ceremonies on the beaches of Utah and Omaha Beach where “73,000 courageous Americans” landed to “open the way to the liberation of France and Europe,” said the House. White.

Russia excluded

From Monday, around fifty American veterans, some of whom participated in June 6, 1944, landed at Deauville airport, in Normandy, to attend the festivities. “Welcome to France to the heroes,” the French president wrote on Tuesday on X.

A strong symbol, Russia, invited ten years ago and former ally of the United States and the United Kingdom against Nazi Germany, was formally excluded from the ceremonies because of its invasion of Ukraine.

The French presidency has made no secret of its desire to display Western unity at a time when a major conflict is once again hitting Europe. Emmanuel Macron must in particular clarify his intentions regarding the possible sending of military instructors to Ukraine.

On June 7, Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver a speech at Pointe du Hoc, still in Normandy, “on the importance of defending freedom and democracy,” according to the White House. A message that he intends to intensify in view of the new presidential election in November.

“Unfailing support”

Joe Biden will then make his first state visit to France on Saturday in Paris – the highest level of protocol – with a welcome at the Arc de Triomphe, interviews and a banquet at the Élysée with Emmanuel Macron.

“While 80 years after the Liberation of Europe, war is back on the continent, the two presidents will discuss the unfailing and long-term support to be given to Ukraine,” said the French presidency.

“This close coordination on international crises will be intended to prepare the next international events, in particular the G7 summit”, in mid-June in Italy, “and the NATO summit”, in July in Washington, added this Source.

Three days

Emmanuel Macron is due to launch the D-Day celebrations in Plumelec (Brittany, west) on Wednesday with first tributes to the Breton resistance fighters, the first paratroopers of Free France and the numerous civilian victims of the Second World War.

In the afternoon he will go to Saint-Lô, in Normandy, to give a speech on the civilian victims of Allied bombings. “Capital of ruins”, according to the expression of the Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, the city was 90% destroyed on the night of June 6 to 7. In total, these Allied bombings caused 50,000 to 70,000 civilian victims, including 10,000 in Normandy alone.

Finally, on Wednesday evening, still in Normandy, Emmanuel Macron will pay tribute to the inmates of Caen prison, mainly resistance fighters, shot by the Germans during the Landings. As Sunday’s European elections approach, which look bad for his camp, the French president has decided to extend the commemorations this year over three days, from Wednesday to Friday.

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AFP

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