A phone call between United States Ambassador to Paris Charles Kushner and French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has halted a diplomatic row that threatened to derail relations between the two countries, Politico reports.
An official close to Barrot said Kushner called the minister and smoothed over the situation after he failed to show up for a meeting at the Foreign Ministry. Kushner was summoned to the ministry to explain the U.S. government’s claim that the death of a 23-year-old far-right activist in Lyon highlighted the rise of violent far-left ideology.
The incident in Lyon could have political ramifications for local elections in March.
After Kushner failed to show up for the meeting, Barrot said in an interview that he had requested that the American ambassador be barred from meeting members of the government until he began to respect the basic traditions of diplomacy and respond when summoned by the Foreign Ministry.
Kushner and Barrot later agreed to meet in the coming days to strengthen bilateral relations between France and the United States. An official close to Barrot did not respond to Politico’s question about the reasons for Kushner’s absence. The US ambassador to France is the father of Donald Trump’s envoy, Jared Kushner.
The US embassy said in an official statement that
Barrot and Kushner had a frank and friendly conversation that confirmed their commitment to working together.
Barrot said in an interview on the 24th of February that the activist’s tragic death is an internal matter, and France has nothing to learn from reactionary forces, especially when it comes to violence.
During the conversation with Barrot, Kushner showed his determination not to interfere in the discussions of French society, and repeatedly emphasized the friendship between France and the United States.
Meanwhile, the news agency Reuters writes that Raphael Glucksmann, a French center-left politician and potential presidential candidate in 2027, said in an interview with the television channel LCI on the 24th of February that the United States has been a strategic ally of European democracy for 80 years, but that the Trump administration can no longer be considered an ally. The politician emphasized that European countries are not a US state, and therefore the White House cannot interfere in European internal affairs, and must stand up for it firmly.
Glucksmann has not officially announced his candidacy, but is considered one of the strongest moderate left-wing candidates for the presidency.
Read also: US Ambassador to France banned from meeting the government