On January 6, as the U.S. Congress was meeting to certify President Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election, a few violent individuals forced their way into the secular temple of American democracy: the Capitol.
7 January 2021 - Check against delivery
What happened today in Washington DC is not America, definitely.
On January 6, as the U.S. Congress was meeting to certify President Biden’s victory in the November 2020 election, a few violent individuals forced their way into the secular temple of American democracy: the Capitol.
A woman was killed.
When, in one of the world’s oldest democracies, supporters of an outgoing president take up arms to challenge the legitimate results of an election, a universal idea – that of “one person, one vote” – is undermined.
Since the 18th century, the United States of America and France have shared a commitment to freedom and democracy.
With Lafayette, France lent its support to the American people in their quest for liberty and independence.
With Alexis de Tocqueville, France recognized America as a symbol of democracy.
In the 20th century, the United States stood with France during two World Wars, whenever its independence, its freedom, were threatened.
Today France stands strongly, fervently and resolutely with the American people and with all people who want to choose their leaders, determine their own destinies and their own lives through free and democratic elections. And we will not yield to the violence of a few individuals who want to challenge that.
It is the choice we have made over the course of several centuries to place human dignity, peace, respect for others, and the recognition of freedom above all else that is now under threat in our democracies.
That is why this evening I want to express our confidence in the strength of American democracy.
I want to express our friendship with the American people and their democracy.
I want to speak of our common struggle to ensure that our democracies emerge from this moment that we are all living through even stronger.
I just wanted to express our friendship and our faith in the United States.
What happened today in Washington DC is not America, definitely.
We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.
