text: No easy ride for EU-US even with Biden's francophone team |
  PARIS (AFP) – United States President-elect Joe Biden's appointment of French speakers to top positions has cheered Paris but France knows it will take more than mother tongue chats to overcome transatlantic strains, even after the departure of Donald Trump.
  Mr Biden has named former deputy national security adviser Anthony Blinken, who spent part of his childhood in France and is fluent in French, as his future secretary of state.
  The special envoy for climate, former secretary of state John Kerry, spends his holidays in Brittany, while Ms Michele Flournoy, in the running for defence secretary, studied in Belgium where she learnt French.
  The atmosphere of exchanges with this team is likely to be markedly more cheerful than contacts with the Trump administration that culminated in a frosty closed-door visit to Paris this month by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
  But an extra dose of bonhomie will not make strategic disagreements – that range from the future of Nato to policy towards China – go away.
  Indeed, with conspicuous timing days after Mr Biden's election victory was confirmed, a French journal published a mammoth interview with French President Emmanuel Macron where he outlined his vision for a Europe that acts independently of the US.
  'Synergy' with Berlin?
  French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said he was "particularly happy" about Mr Blinken's appointment, as he had worked with him while serving as French defence minister.
  A French government source described Mr Blinken as "francophone and francophile" and said he and Mr Le Drian used the informal "tu" for "you" when speaking.
  "Can France take advantage of the francophile leanings of several officials? Yes, but with conditions," said Mr Jean-Claude Beaujour, vice-president of the France-Ameriques association.
  He emphasised that US officials follow a Europe policy above all, without a specific approach to any single country such as France.
  But under Mr Macron's rule, there has not always been harmony between Paris and Berlin, and in the Le Grand Continent interview, he rather undiplomatically took aim at German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who has been a prominent proponent of the US remaining a key part of Europe's defence calculus.
  Mr Macron said "I profoundly disagree" with her argument, which he described as a "historical misinterpretation", adding icily that "fortunately, if I understood things correctly, the Chancellor (Angela Merkel) does not share this point of view".
  'Not fundamentally different'
  Mr Benjamin Haddad, Europe director of the Atlantic Council think tank, said the new Biden team will want to work better with Europe.
  "But this will mean more pressure on the Europeans. We should not have any illusions. On questions like 5G and Chinese investment in infrastructure, they will ask us to choose sides. But this will be done in concert."
  "It will undoubtedly be less unpleasant, but not fundamentally different," said a French government source, who asked not to be named.
  In his interview, Mr Macron also spoke about the need to "prevent the Chinese-American duopoly" and said that the world was at "breaking point in terms of the capitalist system".
  An American diplomatic source, who also asked not to be named, added: "I don't think everything reverts back to normal, but we will have more normalcy in transatlantic relations."