Adrien Frier, Consul General of France, addressed the Rotary Club of Beverly Hills on Sept. 15 on the state of Euro-American relationships and growing challenges to the international system, among other topics.
Representing the Southwestern United States—which includes Southern California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada—Frier described the three missions he’s charged with in looking after the 25,000 registered French citizens living in the region. His priority is safety, ensuring they have their proper identity and travel documents. Because of the vastness of the United States and the six-hour plane ride to the French embassy in Washington, D.C., he also maintains strong relationships with local elected officials. And he describes his biggest duty as helping to spread French cultural influence through art, film, sports and education.
France remains America’s oldest ally, a relationship spanning nearly 250 years since U.S. independence from Britain. Frier emphasized that defining military moments like D-Day and the liberation of Normandy during World War II cemented this partnership. “There is no other country in the world with which we have a stronger military relationship,” Frier stated.
The relationship between France and the U.S. extends beyond strategic and military dimensions. On a hyperlocal level, Beverly Hills and Cannes—the French Riviera city known for its annual international film festival—became “sister cities” in 1986 on the heels of the Cold War. Mayor Sharona Nazarian visited Cannes last year when she was vice mayor in hopes of revitalizing the relationship with the French city.
The economic relationship between France and the U.S. has grown stronger in recent years, Frier stated. He noted that $161 billion was exchanged in trade between the countries per year—a significant increase from 2022 and pre-COVID-19 years.
“Beyond the strategic relationship, between the political relations, between the military connections, you also have things that change daily lives of this part of the country. Creating jobs, studies, culture: this is something that is very important at the end of the day,” said Frier.
Yet the relationship between the United States and France and Europe as a whole is not without challenge. Frier, who spent 20 years as a diplomat specializing in military and strategy before serving as consul general of France, shared his insight on the strains being put on this alliance.
“We see a world where strength and confrontation are on the verge of replacing rule of law and negotiation,” said Frier. The world is witnessing an attempt by different countries to create a new world order to replace the current one which they believe has disproportionately benefited the United States.
Francis Fukuyama’s “End of History” theory, which posits that liberal democracies are the end goal for governments and would therefore end the outbreak of conflict between states, is now being challenged. The fundamental question now, Frier stated, is who is willing to step forward to try and defend the international system? That system has never been perfect but has “somehow managed to prevent us from repeating the worst that we have known twice during the last century,” he added.
Through the weakening of bodies like the United Nations and the mutual defense principle, or Article 5 of the Charter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the international system faces new challenges that require global cooperation and alignment.
The economic and political turmoil resulting from the creation of the euro and Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2016 were “wake-up calls” for Europe. In February 2022, Europe’s security environment was completely transformed when Russia decided to invade Ukraine.
“France never thought it would end up in a situation whereby a direct high-level intensity conflict with another country—Russia, which has a nuclear weapon—would be in the realm of possibility,” said Frier.
Additionally, he recognized that though the French-American relationship is being tested with the second Trump administration, he believes that the countries’ relationship goes beyond three difficult years. Frier pointed to their aligned strategic goals, strong people-to-people relationships, and history, one of the assets of this relationship.
“I am sure that this French, Euro-American friendship is not going away,” said Frier. “This is not going away because there are political disagreements between Paris and Washington or between Brussels and Washington.”
