Kerry takes the world stage before Blinken

Differences and overlaps

In London, Kerry is also meeting with British government officials to host COP26, the next annual UN meeting focusing on climate issues. In Paris, he met with French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and was expected to meet with Ecology Minister Barbara Pompili, Foreign Minister Yves LeDrian and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, officials said. told CNN.

Although Kerry and Blinken are very close, some officials fear that overlapping their personality differences and portfolios could also create a dynamic that blurs the lines between the two. Kerry has enjoyed the spotlight since his twenties and is known for his relentless pace on the world stage, while Blinken is considered more reticent and methodical and has worked most of his life to support other officials.

Government officials said there was a bit of nervousness about Kerry’s debut journey as a climate envoy, precisely because of his love of paving the way and tackling face-to-face diplomacy and his eagerness to do so. These officials mention the concerns in the ranks about how Kerry’s quest to get there, meet people and deal with performances, and the concerns he may have overshadowed or seen to overshadow Blinken. And although Secretary Kerry supported the trip, some officials near him were irritated about it, a second State Department official said.

Asked what signal it sent to European allies to visit Kerry in front of the secretary, a State Department spokesman said that Kerry, “with the support of President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and his hosts in London, Brussels and Paris , believes that it is essential that we make significant progress this year in tackling the climate crisis, he is currently traveling to Europe because he and our partners were confident that a handful of personal meetings would make the progress meaningful. could advance, also ahead of the president’s climate summit next month. “

The spokesman made it clear that Kerry would stick to the climate issue. “Special President-in-Office Kerry focuses a lot on climate change, and he makes it clear in every conversation he has,” they said.

The first government official told CNN that Kerry is capable of doing things that Blinken cannot do, because he can travel without a large number of people – an advantage in the ongoing Covid pandemic. Another official familiar with Kerry’s travel plans said he had traveled commercially and with only one assistant.

But the European tour underscores the fact that there is sensitivity around Kerry’s role, and that some kinks have yet to work out.

The administration official, who is familiar with the planning of Kerry’s trip, said it was weeks in the making and that normal approval from the White House and the State Department was needed. But some government officials believe the trip is coming together at the last minute and others were unaware that Kerry’s trip was officially approved, until von der Leyen issued a statement on Friday about a call she had with Biden, stating that Kerry would come, one department official said.

In the White House reading of Biden’s call with von der Leyen, Kerry is not mentioned.

After weeks of video conferencing, Kerry felt he needed to see his peers in person, especially because of the upcoming April 22 climate summit hosted by the Biden administration, and then the ‘sprint to Glasgow’ for the UN’s climate change conference in November, the administration official said.

Trip caused tension

Another official noted that it was difficult to say no to a former foreign minister. A third State Department official said staff think “as Blinken starts traveling more, it will be fine”, but as others acknowledge that this first trip is causing tension.

This is partly because in diplomacy the important considerations between protocol and rank always exist when meetings are arranged, especially at the beginning of a new government.

One official said Kerry’s former reputation, expertise and well-known love of chewing on policy issues could mean he was asked to answer questions about issues that were no longer his job, but those of Blinken.

“Who knows what he will say when he is there when someone asks him about non-climate issues: Iran, or the IDP, or insurgency or whatever,” this official speculates.

The State Department spokesman, who may have anticipated this concern, made it clear that Kerry would address the climate issue. “Special President-in-Office Kerry focuses a lot on climate change, and he makes it clear in every conversation he has,” they said.

For State Department officials, Kerry’s enthusiasm to get things done coincides with the challenge of managing European allies’ eagerness to practice personal diplomacy with Biden administration officials after four years with Trump. “Kerry has all these contacts who realize he wants to come and then meet with him,” the second official said.

Under Trump, diplomacy has become less disciplined as White House officials and the former president’s associates have taken outreach while bypassing an often marginalized state department. Some foreign officials, now familiar with the ad hoc approach, may see Kerry as another way to reach Biden and convey messages or requests through him instead of the more appropriate way of speaking through Blinken.

In Paris, French officials lined up to see Kerry. “All I can guess is that the French assume he’s coming with Blinken’s blessing so they can meet with him,” a fourth government official said. “I imagine the French are delighted to have a conversation partner on the ground,” this official said. “Although they prefer for protocol reasons (the Secretary), they will continue with the assumption that everyone is having a good time.”

‘Glad’

A particularly worrying protocol is that Kerry knows the French Macron and the British Johnson well, but that he usually will not necessarily get a formal appointment with them, officials said.

Even Blinken would not normally have a formal meeting with the French president or British prime minister, because the protocol is that the secretary of state meets with his or her counterpart, the foreign minister. What traditionally happens during these visits is that officials in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs arrange for the Prime Minister to make a seemingly improvised visit.

This is exactly what happened in the United Kingdom, where Kerry became the first Biden cabinet official to pay a visit to London to mark the ‘special relationship’. Kerry tweeted that during his meeting with President COP26, Alok Sharma, he had a “surprise visit” from Johnson and indicated the future diplomacy and had to travel further. “Only eight short months to Glasgow,” Kerry said, “is delighted to have both of these leaders as strong partners in the work ahead.”

It was not clear how France handled Kerry’s meeting with Macron, but the climate envoy emerged from their conversation and told reporters that the US was ‘back to being partners’.

On the 7th floor, where the secretary and his senior staff have offices, Kerry is seen as a powerful power multiplier for Blinken, who can help make the secretary and U.S. diplomacy more effective.

“It definitely helps that they are good friends,” a source told CNN.

Blinken, Kerry and their teams talk regularly because climate issues are addressed by the Biden administration’s approach to foreign policy, this source said, and tackling climate change is a key priority.

“Secretary Blinken realizes that it is important for the United States to be involved in this and that is why he has been a campaigner for this position from the beginning and for Secretary Kerry in this role,” the official said. “He has confidence that Secretary Kerry can make progress.”