friends again

Macron and Biden patch things up

The French ambassador to the United States is set to return to Washington, D.C. next week, following a much-needed heart-to-heart between President Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, The Hill reports. 

On Wednesday, the two world leaders spoke on the phone to discuss the elephant in the room — the U.S., U.K. and Australia's three-way defense pact — as well as France's resulting ire. Luckily, the rift was nothing a bit of communication — or, as Politico's Nahal Toosi put it, "marriage counseling" — couldn't fix.

"The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners," read a joint statement on the call. "President Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard."

Biden and Macron also agreed to a "process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence and proposing concrete measures toward common objectives."

The statement then continued, in what The Economist's Sophie Pedder noted as a "key phrase secured by Macron": "The United States also recognizes the importance of a stronger and more capable European defense, that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to NATO." 

Biden and Macron will meet in person at the end of October to continue discussions. In any event, considering U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson was ready to put the whole ordeal to bed, the call and subsequent statement really couldn't have come at a better time. Read more at The Hill.