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It is a historically significant day on which Merkel made her statement about Biden’s electoral victory. On November 9, Germany thinks “of the worst and the best” of history: of “the shame of November 9, 1938”, the pogroms and the Shoah, but also of the opening of the Berlin Wall on November 9 1989. German unity “would not have been possible without trust, especially that of the United States,” the chancellor stressed. For that she “will always be grateful.”
“We Germans have seen firsthand the important role that the United States of America plays for freedom and democracy in the world,” Merkel said. The German-American friendship and the transatlantic partnership are very important: “for Germany, for Europe and the world.”
Merkel had already congratulated Biden at the weekend. She reaffirmed this congratulation. Biden brings decades of experience in domestic and foreign policy with him. “He knows Germany and Europe well.” She fondly remembers “good meetings and conversations with him.”
“With the same warmth,” he also congratulated future Vice President Kamala Harris, stressed the chancellor. “As the first woman in this position and the daughter of two immigrants, she is an inspiration to many people, an example of the possibilities of America.” Merkel said she was eager to meet.
In 2015, Chancellor Merkel received then-US Vice President Joe Biden in Munich.
(Photo: imago images / ZUMA Press)
Looking to future cooperation, Merkel highlighted the important foreign policy partner the United States was in NATO to overcome the “great challenges of our time.” You share basic values and interests. We must be side by side “in the difficult test of the corona pandemic”, but also in issues such as global warming and its global consequences, in the fight against terrorism and in questions of free world economy and trade. Because these are the foundations of prosperity “on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Merkel is also aware of the criticisms the United States had against Germany at the NATO level, most recently under Trump, on a massive scale. Germany had already signed in 2014 that it wanted to meet a two percent target for defense spending. This has not yet been achieved. Thus, Trump had repeatedly slammed Germany. The American Democrats and Biden do not take a fundamentally different position on this issue.
You know you have to “take on more responsibilities,” Merkel said. The United States, as its strongest ally, expected greater efforts to ensure security. “Rightly so,” as Merkel emphasized. “And we Europeans have been on this path for a long time.”
Merkel concluded her brief statement that she was eager to work with Biden and Harris. He wishes you “strength, success, and God’s blessing.”
