ALAIN JOCARD v AFP
US First Lady Jill Biden arrived at Orly Airport in southern Paris on Monday (July 24).
FRANCE — A week-long visit to France marking the United States’ return to Unesco. US First Lady Jill Biden arrived in France on July 24, where she will meet her French counterpart Brigitte Macron at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday and attend a ceremony celebrating Washington’s reintegration into the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
On her first official visit to France, US President Joe Biden’s wife first spent time with members of the US embassy and their families on Monday afternoon, according to a broadcast broadcast by her services to AFP.
This Tuesday she has to meet the wife of the French head of state Brigitte Macron in the Élysée Palace. The two women, who met at the 2021 G20 summit in Rome, are very close. After that meeting, Jill Biden specifically described their relationship as that of “two girlfriends together, like two sisters.”
A tribute to the Saint-James American Cemetery
The American First Lady will attack the centerpiece of her visit on the same day: the raising of the American flag in the Unesco enclosure. A symbol that marks the return of the United States to this UN organization whose headquarters are in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, Place de Fontenoy. Jill Biden will notably be speaking alongside UNESCO Director General Audrey Azoulay.
Then, on Wednesday, she will go to the Saint-James American Cemetery in Montjoie-Saint-Martin (Manche) to “commemorate the American soldiers who lost their lives in World War II”. Accompanied by Brigitte Macron, she will then visit Mont-Saint-Michel – a site that has been a World Heritage Site since 1979 – to “underline the importance of preserving cultural heritage sites around the world,” according to her program.
President Emmanuel Macron travels to New Caledonia, Vanuatu and then Papua New Guinea for several days and will not meet Jill Biden.
A very political return of the United States to UNESCO
The United States officially joined UNESCO on June 30, after a referendum by member states and despite opposition from Russia and China. They had left it under Donald Trump in 2017, denouncing the institution’s “persistent anti-Israeli bias.” This withdrawal, which coincided with Israel’s withdrawal, had been in effect since December 2018.
His return is part of a broader context of growing rivalry with China as Beijing looks to reshape the international multilateral order created after World War II and from which UNESCO emerged. Only ten countries opposed the US return at the end of June, including Iran, Syria, China, North Korea and especially Russia, which deliberately significantly slowed down the debates and failed to reverse the outcome.
The United States had already left UNESCO in 1984 under Ronald Reagan, citing the organization’s alleged uselessness and budget overruns, which it then reinstated in October 2003. Her return is a relief to the organization, whose American contributions made up 22% of the budget. Washington has pledged to fully repay its arrears, which total $619 million, more than UNESCO’s annual budget of $534 million.
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