FOREIGN MINISTER SÈJOURNÈ: (Via interpreter)
Good afternoon to all of you. Dear Antony, it gives me great pleasure to receive
you here in Paris. As you know, France is deeply attached to the Alliance
that unites it to the United States of America within the framework of NATO, as
we’re celebrating its 75th anniversary as well as in the context of our bilateral
relations. For some two and a half centuries, we’ve always stood together in all of France
with the United States of America for fre
edom. The United States knows what it owes France,
but I can tell you very concretely that we in France here – France knows as well what it
owes the United States in its history. In this year of the 80th anniversary of D-Day, we will
have other opportunities to say it forcefully, to celebrate the friendship between the United
States and France on the 8th of June. And it is also this sort of spirit of freedom that drives
us and that led us to support Ukraine together. As you know, ladies and
gentlemen, for two years
now Russia has been waging an unjustifiable aggression against a free and sovereign country.
And not content with oppressing his own people, Vladimir Putin is trying to subjugate
the Ukrainian people. But there are two obstacles that have been preventing
him from doing so for two years now and which are making his war a failure for Russia –
first of all, the bravery of the Ukrainians who for two years have been fighting the massive
assaults of the Russian armies.
And today, although Ukraine certainly did not seek this
war – they have done everything to avoid it as a matter fact, and they still intend to
fight it. This fight is one of self-defense, which is guaranteed by the UN
Charter. It is a just struggle. On the occasion of the meeting of NATO – the
ministerial meeting tomorrow in Brussels – we shall yet again intensify our support to Kyiv and
send across a clear signal of our determination. The conference held in Paris on the 26th of
February w
as a clear step to that effect, and we’re concretely implementing the decisions taken
within the context of a number of coalitions that covered the needs of Ukraine. Together with the
United States, dear Antony, we are co-chairing the coalition on artillery, within the framework of
which we are implementing part of our initiatives. In order to weaken the support of Russia
– and I said it on many occasions here on press conferences, Russia is resorting to lies
and to manipulating our public
opinions. Russia finances interferences, and also is promoting
false media. It accuses Ukraine and Europe of crimes committed by others, recently Daesh.
And it is a crude way of concealing the fact that Russia has chosen the wrong enemy by
ignoring Islamic terrorism on its territory. And we in Europe will be determined to fight
this propaganda. France will soon be proposing a regime of sanctions, dedicated to those who
support Russian companies of disinformation, destabilization of our coun
try and
of the whole European continent. It is a French proposal supported and
implemented by the 27 member states. Dear Antony, we talked about the Middle East,
and please allow me, first and foremost, to express our firm condemnation of the
Israeli strike that led to the death of seven humanitarian personnel of the NGO
World Central Kitchen. The protection – the situation – humanitarian situation is
disastrous and is worsening day after day, and nothing justifies such a tragedy. In
this
context, all decisions taken by the Security Council shall be implemented, including
Resolution 2728. And what does it say? Well, it says that all hostages must be released
immediately and without conditions; that all civilians must be protected; and that
massive humanitarian aid should be delivered. And in this context, I had a chance to present
the French initiatives of the Security Council to the secretary – general secretary.
We need to work on a two-state solution, based on just and s
ustainable peace between Israel
and Palestine, based on security guarantees on both sides. And I have found discussions to
be constructive. And over the next few weeks, I will continue to work and advocate
all of this with all the stakeholders in the region and the permanent
members of the Security Council. We shall also avoid any regional escalation. I
have in mind Lebanon. France made proposals that were favorably received by our Lebanese
partners. And I will continue to talk to all inte
rested stakeholders, and all
stakeholders shall prevent any escalation. We also talked about the war in Sudan. This
is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. And on the 15th of April, we will
organize a large humanitarian conference in Paris co-chaired by France, Germany, and
the European Union. We need to mobilize in order to work on this major crisis
which is being forgotten by the media and the political leaders. And I know I
can count on you and on the United States, dear A
ntony, to promote, make sure that this
conference is a success for the people in need. Lastly, we talked about Armenia’s territorial
integrity, which is being challenged by Azerbaijan today. And let me tell you how worried we are
given the fact that the rhetoric of Azerbaijan is getting out of hand. And we see an increasing
number of fake news as well coming from Baku, and they tend to blame Armenia for
the responsibility of an escalation, even though Armenia is probably the
only one willi
ng and trying to avoid it in this part of the world. And I can
see in all of this propaganda many common elements if you look at what is – Russia
is imposing on Ukraine. And dear Antony, I think we shall pay extreme attention to
that six months ahead of COP29 in Baku. Dear Secretary of State, this is a short
introduction. I’m looking forward to further discussing these matters in Brussels and in
the coming weeks. There is so much we still need to do so that the values which – founding
valu
es for both our countries can prevail around the world. Dear Antony, thank you for these
discussions. I’ll now leave you the floor, and once again, thank you very much
for the quality of our discussions. SECRETARY BLINKEN: (Via interpreter)
I am truly delighted, as ever, to be in Paris. And Stéphane, I would
like to thank you for this warm welcome, and indeed for this important
conversation and, I do believe, quite constructive. If I may be allowed
I’ll continue in English for my colleague
s. (In English) And as I just said, it’s always
wonderful to be back in Paris. But I especially wanted to thank my colleague and friend,
Stéphane, for the incredibly warm welcome, but also the quality of the conversation that we
had. He covered most of what we’ve talked about; let me just add a couple of
quick points of emphasis. On Ukraine, we discussed the imperative of
continuing to support Ukraine so that it can effectively defend itself against the ongoing
Russian aggression. That’s f
or today. But also to make sure, through the work that we’re doing,
to help Ukraine build a strong military for the future, to attract private sector investment so
that it builds up its economy, and to continue to strengthen its democracy – in particular
by moving down the accession path toward the EU – we are ensuring that we will have a Ukraine
that stands strongly on its own feet, militarily, economically, democratically. And that’s the
single best response to Putin’s aggression. France
has been a remarkable leader in this
effort, both in making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself and also working to
set it up for the long term. It’s been a leader in burden sharing – billions donated in military and
economic assistance to Ukraine – but also rallying other countries, using its leadership to bring
others along. We also see this leadership in the enforcement of sanctions and export controls to
limit Putin’s war machine. We are working day in, day out to effec
tively prevent the transfer
of weapons and materiels to Russia to fuel that war machine, to fuel its defense
industrial base, including from Iran, from North Korea, and from China –
something that we discussed today. This is not only a threat to Ukraine; it’s
actually a threat to European security as a whole. And so there’s a strong interest on
the part of France, on the part of all European countries to do everything we can to prevent the
ongoing bolstering of Russia’s war machine. Part o
f our shared challenge, too, is making sure
that we are continuing to build up and energize our defense industrial base. Earlier today I had a
chance to tour a factory where munitions are being produced. These munitions – French munitions,
American munitions, munitions coming from other parts of Europe and well beyond – have been
absolutely essential in ensuring that Ukraine could stand up against the Russian onslaught.
We have to build a stronger allied defense industrial base that’s capab
le of meeting the
challenges of today, but also future challenges. And that’s also one of the reasons why it
is essential that the United States Congress pass President Biden’s supplemental
budget request as soon as possible, indeed when it returns from its recess.
That would further turbocharge our own defense industrial base while creating
more good jobs in the United States. As Stéphane said, we also spent some time
talking about the Middle East. We’ve been grateful for France’s partner
ship
on the crisis of the Middle East, and indeed working together to prevent the
conflict that we see in Gaza from spreading to other parts of the region. Both of us agree on the
need to get to the quickest possible ceasefire, to allow the release of hostages, to enable the
surge and sustainment of humanitarian assistance. As I mentioned, we’re coordinating
closely when it comes to Lebanon and trying to prevent any spread of the conflict
there, finding a diplomatic way forward. We’re also
working together on creating a
path to a more durable and lasting peace, with security guarantees and political
guarantees for Israelis and Palestinians alike. Let me also reiterate what Stéphane said
about the attack on the World Food Kitchen members – World Central Kitchen, excuse
me. First, I can only say that for so many of us we send our condolences to the
loved ones, to the families, the friends, the colleagues of those who lost their lives as
well as those who were injured. I spoke
to José Andrés just about a week ago about the efforts
that World Central Kitchen is engaged in Gaza, as it is in many other conflict zones around the
world, including in Ukraine. They have been doing extraordinary, brave work, day in, day out, and
critical work to try to make sure that people in need get what they need, starting with the
most basic thing of all – food to survive. The victims of yesterday’s strike join a record
number of humanitarian workers who have been killed in this pa
rticular conflict. These
people are heroes. They run into the fire, not away from it. They show the best of what
humanity has to offer when the going really gets tough. They have to be protected. We
shouldn’t have a situation where people who are simply trying to help their fellow
human beings are themselves at grave risk. We’ve spoken directly to the Israeli Government
about this particular incident. We’ve urged a swift, a thorough, an impartial investigation to
understand exactly what ha
ppened. And as we have throughout this conflict, we’ve impressed upon
the Israelis the absolute imperative of doing more to protect innocent civilian lives, be they
Palestinian children, women, and men or be they aid workers, as well as to get more humanitarian
assistance to more people, more effectively. Finally, let me just say that,
as you heard from Stéphane, we touched on a number of other issues.
I think what we see is an extraordinary convergence between France and the United
States
on the major challenges of our time. We’re cooperating together to try to ensure
a free and open Indo-Pacific. That means a region where countries are free to choose their
own path and their own partners; where problems are dealt with openly; where rules are reached
transparently and applied fairly; where goods, ideas, people flow freely and lawfully. We’re
proud partners in the Paris climate summit, including joint efforts to advance civil
nuclear energy as a greener alternative. Finally,
let me just say how grateful we are as
well to President Macron for his longstanding leadership on some of the most important,
cutting-edge issues of the day; for example, all of the issues attendant to cyberspace,
uniting governments, the private sector, civil society around rules of the road that reflect
our shared values and our shared interests. It is, I think, very fitting that we are
celebrating two landmark anniversaries this year: the 80th anniversary of the
liberation that Stépha
ne alluded to, as well as the 75th anniversary of NATO, the
Alliance – the defensive alliance – that joins us together. In fact, the 80th anniversary of
the liberation is a good reminder of why we decided a few years after the end of World War
II to come together in that defensive alliance to help ensure that something like World War
II would never happen again, to make clear that countries in the transatlantic
space would look out for each other, have each other’s backs, and in so doing ma
ke
it less likely that aggression would occur. So there’s a lot to look forward to in the
weeks and months ahead, even as we deal with the challenges of this moment. And I look forward
to being back in France to do that. Thank you. FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ: Thank you. MODERATOR: (Via interpreter)
One question per media, please. QUESTION: Thank you very much. MODERATOR: Could you please stand up, please? QUESTION: Of course. (Laughter.) SECRETARY BLINKEN: Don’t drop the laptop, John. QUESTIO
N: Sorry about this. (Laughter.) Very, very
disorganized over here. (Laughter.) Mr. Secretary, as the leader of the U.S. department that
has approved the transfer of the vast majority of the Israeli bombs dropped in this
conflict, do events like the bombing of the World Central Kitchen convoy give you pause about
continuing the flood of U.S. weapons into Israel? And a second question for both of you,
Secretary Blinken and Minister Séjourné. There has been a rise of Ukrainian
strikes on Rus
sian oil refineries. The West is fairly united in saying
these strikes are justified. Do you think hitting these facilities is the
right strategic approach for Ukraine? SECRETARY BLINKEN: (In French.)
FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ: (In French.) SECRETARY BLINKEN: Thank you, John. Let
me take the second question first. It has been our view and policy from day one when it
comes to Ukraine to do everything we possibly can to help Ukraine defend itself against
this Russian aggression. At the same t
ime, we have neither supported nor enabled
strikes by Ukraine outside of its territory. With regard to arms transfers,
look, I think it’s very important to put this in its proper perspective and to
understand what we’re talking about. First, we have a longstanding commitment to Israel’s
security and to helping ensure its ability to defend itself. That’s been a policy from
administration to administration – Republican, Democrat, back and forth. And indeed, that
policy, developed over many y
ears, developed into successive agreements between the United
States and Israel – long duration agreements, 10 years in this case, to provide military
assistance over that timeframe to about $3 billion a year. That’s the system that’s
in place, and it’s long been in place. These arms transfers, every single one, happens consistent with statutory and policy
requirements. That includes both informal and formal notifications to Congress, and
it’s what we do with every country with whom we have
a defense relationship that
involves the sale or transfer of arms. Now, the other important piece of context is
this: With Israel – and this is also true of other countries – there are a number of open
cases, open requests of previously notified cases which has not been fully fulfilled
or completed. In the case of Israel, for example, there are many requests that
were made and were notified to Congress and agreed to that go back a decade or more.
And it takes time, often, to produce the m
ateriel or the weapons in question, the
parts, et cetera. These complex systems, simply put, can take years to actually allow
us to fulfill the request and the agreement. So many of the cases that you occasionally
report on now underwent congressional review years ago and were notified years ago,
well before the conflict in Gaza started. QUESTION: Isn’t that more of a
problem, though? Because they were approved in a non-wartime context,
but Congress never had a chance to — SECRETARY BLINKE
N: Let me come – let me come to
that, because again, all of this context is very, very important. We, of course, also go out of
our way to make sure that we’re actually going above and beyond the law and what’s required in
briefing Congress. We go to the relevant oversight committees. We make sure that they’re aware of
ongoing transfers above the statutory threshold, even ones that they’ve approved a
long time ago and even when there’s no requirement that there be additional
notice or addi
tional approval of any kind. Now, we’ve been focused on trying to make sure
that October 7th can never happen again. But having said that, the security relationship
we have with Israel is not just about Gaza, Hamas, October 7th. It’s also about the threats
posed to Israel by Hizballah, by Iran, by various other actors in the region, each one of which has
vowed one way or another to try to destroy Israel. So the weapons, the systems that Israel
has sought to acquire – and as I said, have bee
n contracted in many cases over many, many
years – go to self-defense. They go to deterrence, trying to avoid more conflicts. They go to
replenishment of their supplies and their stocks. So that’s the system that’s in place, has been
in place for a long time, and one that continues. Now, as to the conflict in Gaza, from
day one, we have worked to impress upon Israel the imperative of protecting civilians, of
adhering fully to international humanitarian law, to the law of armed conflict. Tha
t is
something that we are looking at and review on a regular basis, and that we’re
engaged with Israel on on a regular basis, including as recently as yesterday when we met
with – by video with the Israeli delegation. FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ: (Via interpreter) Thank
you. I will be quite clear and direct as to the strikes by Ukraine against Russian refineries.
This brings almost no comment on our behalf. The Ukrainian people is acting in self-defense, and we
consider that Russia is the a
ggressor. And in such circumstances, there is hardly anything to –
anything else to say. I think you understood me. MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) A
question from the French press. QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Good afternoon.
Delphine Touitou, AFP. I have a question regarding the Israeli strike on the consulate – question
for both of you. So about this strike by Israel on Iran’s consulate in Damascus. I’d like to know
whether you fear any escalation in the region. And a follow-up question. Giv
en what happened in Gaza
recently, did Israel go beyond some red lines? And what would be the red lines in Gaza or elsewhere
as to the way Israel is behaving at the moment? FOREIGN MINISTER SÈJOURNÈ: (Via interpreter)
Let me start. To be extremely clear, the whole purpose of our action from the very
beginning – and I believe the Secretary of State is in the same mindset – it is all
about preventing escalation. That’s the whole purpose of our action. And there are
a number of stakeholders w
ho obviously are trying to expand the conflict in the north of
Israel and in the Red Sea. We talked about it, and we already made comments on that
here – the strikes against the United States in Syria and Iraq or elsewhere. So the
escalation is entirely their responsibility, so I need not qualify things, but I need to
tell you that the whole purpose of our action is to prevent this escalation. And we will
accordingly not comment on what happened. SECRETARY BLINKEN: (Via interpreter) I can o
nly
say the same thing. We follow the same approach. We’re working very closely together to avoid
an escalation, be it in Lebanon, in Iraq, or in Syria; or be it in the Red Sea, or in Yemen, et
cetera. And with respect to the strikes in Syria, we are trying to ascertain the facts. We are in
the process of learning exactly what happened, and we are continuing to work to understand
the details. But we are working everyday together – France and the United States,
especially in Lebanon – to av
oid that there be a conflict between the parties,
a conflict about which we are convinced neither the Israelis, neither Hizballah,
neither Lebanon want, or neither Iran. MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) One more
question from the American press. QUESTION: Thank you. Hi. Simon Lewis from Reuters.
I just firstly wanted to come back to the issue of the World Central Kitchen workers, the seven
workers who were killed by an Israeli strike. I had the honor of actually knowing one of them,
“Zomi” Fra
nkcom, and I can testify to her zest for life, kindness, and selflessness that we
could see in the work that she was doing. This morning I’ve seen an image of her Australian
passport covered in blood. It’s quite striking. Secretary Blinken, you’ve been warning for several
months about the need for more humanitarian aid to get into Gaza. You recently talked about
the near-famine conditions there. This is the reason why these world food – World Central
Kitchen workers were there. You’ve calle
d for an investigation. But this isn’t the first time
that aid convoys have been hit. This isn’t the first time that the Israelis have been taking
action that’s restricted aid both going into the Gaza strip and being distributed. So I really
wanted to ask: Are you going to do more if this continues – this has continued for months. Is
there more that you can do than simply raise these issues with the Israelis? And if their
investigation comes back with certain findings, is there some action
the United States as the main
backer of Israel is going to take regarding that? And secondly, France has proposed a new UN
Security Council resolution on Gaza that goes further than the one that the U.S. abstained on
last month. It calls for decisive and irreversible measures taken by parties towards a two-state
solution. Secretary Blinken, you’ve called for a pathway to a two-state solution, a Palestinian
state. So will you support such a resolution? And to the foreign minister, regarding
that
resolution, have – are you assured of having U.S. support for that? The U.S. has used its veto
several times since October to block resolutions on Gaza, so would you call on Secretary Blinken
to not use the veto in this case? Thank you. SECRETARY BLINKEN: Simon, with
regard to humanitarian assistance, going back to the very first trip that I
made to Israel after October 7th – a few days later – and every trip subsequent to that,
I and many others, starting with President Biden, have w
orked to impress upon Israel
the moral, the strategic, the legal imperative of doing everything possible to provide
humanitarian assistance to people who need it. And, of course, we’ve seen Israel take
important steps over the last six or so months, whether it was opening Kerem Shalom, whether
it was actually starting by opening the Rafah crossing to begin to allow assistance in –
Kerem Shalom; guaranteed fuel deliveries, flour through the Ashdod Port; opening a new
gate, 96 gate, just a c
ouple of weeks ago; now the maritime corridor that many of us are
working to establish – they’ve taken steps. But it is, simply put, insufficient. It is not
enough to meet the needs of the children, the women, the men in Gaza who remain caught
in a horrific crossfire of Hamas’s making. So in our conversations with the Israeli
Government, including just last week when the defense minister was in Washington and just
yesterday when we were on a video conference with Israeli counterparts, we im
pressed again upon
them the imperative of now surging and sustaining assistance, and not only getting it into Gaza but,
within Gaza, getting it to everyone who needs it, including in the north, where, as you know, the
conditions are the most challenged and where World Central Kitchen was laboring to get assistance to
people. So we and many others, including France, are intensely focused on this, and we are
looking very carefully to see that necessary steps are taken to ensure that the assis
tance
needed gets in and gets to people who need it. This also involves issues like much better
coordination on the ground. We’ll see what the investigation of the incident with World
Central Kitchen reveals. But coordination has been a perennial problem, deconfliction, as
well as other challenges – destroyed roads, lack of trucks within Gaza, things of
that nature that have to be remedied, as well as the access points into
Gaza. Having said all of that, I’m not going to get into hypotheti
cals
or get ahead of myself or get ahead of the administration. All I can tell you is this is
an area of intense focus and absolute necessity. When it comes to the Security Council, France
and the United States have worked very closely together as permanent members on pretty much every
issue that comes before the council, including this one. And I look forward in the days and weeks
ahead to talking about the current effort, other efforts that may come forward. We share the same
objectives.
I think – based on my conversations with Stéphane, I think we both agree that getting
an immediate ceasefire to enable the release of hostages and the surging of humanitarian
assistance would be the best next step that we could have to actually really change things on
the ground. So we want to make sure that we’re maximizing the efforts to do that. Negotiations
with regard to ceasefire and hostages are ongoing. We also agree that we have
to find a path to a durable, lasting peace for Pales
tinians and Israelis
alike. And we both agree that, ultimately, that has to include the establishment of a
Palestinian state with necessary security guarantees for Israel. So we’re aligned
on the fundamentals, and we’ll be talking in the days and weeks ahead about any of
the measures that are before the council. FOREIGN MINISTER SÉJOURNÉ: (Via
interpreter) As far as we’re concerned, we already a week ago commended the adoption
of the resolution. And we, as a matter of fact, are calling on
all parties to comply with its
content. Otherwise there is no international law anymore and no multilateral solution.
France, like you said, is also working on an initiative at the Security Council. Together
with its partners, including the United States, we’re working on the parameters of the – how
to exit the crisis, including the political parameters. Of course they have been discussed
in different fora within a number of diplomatic circles. We are working on a two-state solution,
all t
he different possibilities of what could lead to an end to this political crisis with
a ceasefire and the arrival of humanitarian assistance, and a political architecture that
would enable to have security on both sides. We also, together with the Secretary of
State, talked of – about another point, and that was the purpose of my visit to
Cairo on Saturday, where I met my Egyptian and Jordanian counterparts – and in Guyana as
well. We talked about the parameters and how to exit this crisis.
And we’ll continue to talk
to all the members of the Security Council and, more broadly, to the countries of the region,
and we have the intuition, the feeling that we can find a consensus as broad as possible for
a sustainable way out of this crisis. And this will require the adoption of a new resolution.
If there can be – there shall be another way, and there will be, but such is what
– this is what France is working on. MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) One last
question on behalf of the Fr
ench press. QUESTION: (Via interpreter) Thank you. Phillipe
Ricard, Le Monde. About Ukraine, I’d like to know whether France and the United States now agree
on the possibility of Ukraine at some point joining NATO. Of course that will be discussed
in July at the NATO summit. And a question on Iran regarding Ukraine. Did you – we feel there
is an increasing – an increased – there’s some increased concerns about the delivery of weapons
by Iran. Do you have any information on that? FOREIGN MIN
ISTER SÉJOURNÉ: (Via interpreter) Like
we said on the occasion of the summit in Vilnius, I believe the member-states of NATO share the
same point of view. We are supporting the reforms undertaken by Ukraine in order to join NATO,
and we shall work in order to prepare this NATO summit, which will be a summit of unity. This is
important, and both France and the United States and – are attached to this unity on that point.
So in the coming hours, in the coming weeks, I believe we will be confi
rming this unity, and
we shall stick to the Vilnius formula, I believe. SECRETARY BLINKEN: (Via interpreter) Yes, indeed,
we did talk about the NATO summit and Ukraine, and we’ll talk about it much – in much greater
detail in the coming days in Brussels during the NATO foreign ministers meeting. As the Allies
stated in Vilnius, Ukraine will be a member of NATO. For us, the issue is having a good and
clear roadmap to reach this conclusion. And I believe that the NATO summit for the 75th
ann
iversary will indeed be highly focused, and quite concretely, as to how we can
establish this roadmap. Or to use another image, the bridge – the necessary bridge to
allow Ukraine to become a member of NATO. And with respect to Iranian missiles, which are
being sent to Russia and are being used against the Ukrainian people, indeed we did mention it.
We are working together to try to interrupt, at least penalize, any support of this
nature, be it from Iran, North Korea, or elsewhere, includin
g China.
And this is also something that will be mentioned probably with our
NATO colleagues in the coming days. MODERATOR: (Via interpreter) Thank
you, ministers. This was the last question of this press conference.
Thank you for attending. Thank you. SECRETARY BLINKEN: Merci.
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