US President Joe Biden was to meet his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron Saturday on a state visit to France, after warning of the need to preserve American democracy and live up to the example of World War II heroes.

Biden is due to meet Macron for talks at the Elysee Palace in Paris followed by a state banquet given in his honour, with Ukraine’s battle against the Russian invasion the dominant topic.

In a speech on a clifftop in northern France that was the scene of a bloody confrontation between US troops and occupying Germans on June 6, 1944, Biden Friday had drawn parallels between D-Day and the present.

The president is set to face his Republican rival and predecessor Donald Trump later this year in presidential elections that commentators predict will subject US democracy to a severe test.

Biden invoked the ghosts of the heroes of the assault on the Pointe du Hoc, a clifftop promontory where German bunkers were attacked by US troops. No surviving veterans remain alive.

“They (the veterans) are summoning us,” said Biden.

“They ask us, what will we do? They’re not asking us to scale these cliffs. They’re asking us to stay true to what America stands for.”