“What kind of great nation can’t afford to keep their consulate open?” reads a flyer encouraging local Strasbourgeois to mobilise at 12:30 in front of the threatened consulate on the Avenue d'Alsace.
The reaction comes after the news that Strasbourg, alongside US consulates in Lyon, Rennes, Bordeaux and other European cities, could be shut down under the Trump administration, as reported by the American political media Politico.
The Vice President of Alsace Etats-Unis (AEU) and member of Americans in Alsace (AIA), Vivianne Beller, has urged the American community to write to their congress people deploring the proposal, while also taking direct action by organising a “visible” protest.
Ms Beller told The Connexion that she initially anticipated 40 people to mobilise for the protest, but says there could now be up to 70 or as many as 100.
A local group that organises high school exchanges will be joining the protest, as well as students from an American college who are visiting the city for three months.
United against the current administration
“We have so few opportunities as Americans abroad to truly come together and demonstrate a united voice against the current administration... It is hard to feel proud of your country if it tells you it is going to make it harder for you to do basic things you're entitled to as a citizen of that country,” says Claire Naughton, AIA social media director and a US citizen in France since 2018.
An annual event in 2023, co-sponsored by AIA and AEU that the then-Consul General, Darragh Paradiso, attendedAIA / AEU
Alsace is home to a particularly active American community due to associations such as AIA, AEU and Young Actors Theatre Strasbourg. The AIA alone has a paid membership of some 150 American families, representing around 400 people.
“The consulate is our partner in these groups and activities - we invite them to events, they advise us, and we do the same. For us, it is not just an office that we go to when we need papers, it is much more,” says Ms Beller, who is originally from Massachusetts and has been in France for 47 years.
“A lot of the French associations are very upset too, they want to have the Americans here,” she added.
The president of the Strasbourg metropole, Pia Imbs, and mayor of the city, Jeanne Barseghian, have also shown their support in a joint statement, as has local councillor, Pierre Jakubowicz.
Strasbourg’s US consulate is the oldest in France, having been in operation since 1866, meaning that the institution is “really integrated into the local fabric,” explained Ms Beller.
“The Consulate General represents the American footprint in a region that is historically and economically important to Americans and our European friends and allies,” said Ms Naughton.
“Removing the US presence here makes us look like weak and unreliable international business partners. It makes life less safe here for me as an American, and generally inconveniences everyone who will have to rely on Paris, which is already understaffed, to support us in anything from standard administrative procedures to emergencies,” she added.
The closure of four out of five US consulates in France would leave only the consulate in Marseille alongside the main US Embassy in Paris.
“The embassy is the big machine. The consulate is a handful of people that we all know well,” said Ms Beller.
“Bring signs, banners and a pot to bang on… We are making noise and hoping to be heard so that the Strasbourg consulate may stay open,” she added.
