(AFP) – The new French ambassador to the United States will be able to take up his post, a US State Department official told AFP on Tuesday, after several weeks of deadlock due to a diplomatic spat. Since late July, the State Department has held up the approval of Aurelien Lechevallier, French President Emmanuel Macron’s choice as France’s next envoy to Washington, replacing Laurent Bili.
Lechevallier, currently French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot’s chief of staff, is now expected to arrive in Washington in the coming weeks. US approval of a choice of French envoy is usually a formality but has remained in limbo since the dispute, which involves the French mission to the UN’s criticism over a vote by the United States during a UN General Assembly meeting.
On July 24, the United States was one of 10 countries to vote in the UN General Assembly against extending Volker Turk’s term as UN human rights chief, joining the ranks of North Korea, Russia, and Nicaragua, among others. “The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore,” the French mission wrote in a post on X after the United States strongly opposed another term by Turk, who has repeatedly questioned US policies under President Donald Trump.
The criticism was met with immediate backlash from Washington, with the US representative walking out of a UN Security Council meeting days later when France’s ambassador took the floor, in protest of the comments. Over the weekend, the French UN mission apologized for the critique, a mea culpa that was well-received by Washington and cleared the way for the ambassador’s appointment.
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