More than a dozen AAPA members got to sit down with the two leaders of a US Congressional delegation to France on April 19th at the US ambassador’s residence.
Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), who is on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and Representative David Cicilline (D-RI-01), who is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told us their eight-member delegation had a busy two days in France meeting French officials, UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay, the US ambassador to the OECD, and French groups welcoming Ukrainians fleeing the war there.
Ukraine was, unsurprisingly, the subject of many of the questions for the pair. Senator Coons called the Russian invasion “completely unjustified”.
There was discussion of weaponry being sent, and concerns expressed about Russian accountability for war crimes. UNESCO is documenting the destruction of heritage sites, they said.
Other topics raised included climate change and Covid. Despite our best efforts, they would not be drawn on the then-upcoming second round runoff of the French presidential election