French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrow joked about "British punctuality" on Monday, November 9, after British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband's delay in arriving at the G7 foreign ministers' meeting in Paris. Miliband announced that the reason for his delay was the Eurostar train.
Earlier, when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived, Barrow said, referring to the delay of his European colleagues: "Our European colleagues are late." The head of the European Union's foreign policy, Kaya Callas, responded to the joke: "They have a saying that the closest people are always the last."
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven met in Paris on Monday to examine whether Donald Trump's possible defeat in the US midterm elections could change his administration's approach to Ukraine, the Middle East and relations with Washington's closest allies.
This meeting is being held in a situation where, according to four G7 diplomats, the ministers are looking to assess the possible consequences of the defeat of the Republicans in the midterm elections on the foreign policy of the Trump administration.