This is why Biden and the EU need each other

Of course it took The EU welcomes with great relief the election of Joe Biden as President of the United States. The relationship between the two has gone up and down a bit in recent decades, but has reached a record low under President Donald Trump. After some rather difficult years with George W. Bush (the youngest), the top leaders of the EU were almost delighted when Barack Obama took office. He did not fulfill all his dreams, but the collaboration was much better. Then came four years with Trump, which could make EU veterans miss Bush. It was a “desert across the Atlantic,” as one witty called it.

A historical The coincidence of circumstances has led to a stronger unity in the EU. At the same time, leaders have embraced the idea of ​​playing a more independent role in the world.

Trump’s blatant enmity has shaken the transatlantic cooperation with which the EU was born, forcing Europeans to rely on their own forces. His erratic forays and outbursts have strangely affected two warm friends of the United States, worst for Chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany and then former Prime Minister Theresa May in the United Kingdom.

The rising power of China, with the danger of a trade war between the United States and China in which the EU will not be involved, has led the EU to devise its own strategy.

Britain’s chaotic exit from the EU, “Brexit”, has not, as the British hoped, led to an increase in divisions, but, on the contrary, an unusually cohesive EU.

Added to this is the corona pandemic, in which the EU has responded with a huge economic crisis package, paid for with loans guaranteed by member states jointly. It is a historical landmark. And when the economy rebuilds, it will shift to green and make the EU the greenest superpower in the world.

Now taboos in the EU are falling

In the immediate area, the EU must confront Russia under President Vladimir Putin, which has annexed Crimea, and turbulent Turkey under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And then there is the flow of people fleeing war and poverty across the Mediterranean, people who see the EU as the land of dreams.

Not at all some help from the United States could be obtained from this under Trump. On the contrary, it bore the brunt of the EU’s burden. It has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement to Save the Climate, the disarmament agreements and the nuclear agreement with Iran. Its unilateral and arbitrary policy in the Middle East, implemented without talking to the EU, goes in the same direction. The last step was to recognize the Moroccan occupation of Western Sahara, the former Spanish colony of Río de Oro, which largely concerns the EU.

Inside The EU is based on multinational cooperation and externally the EU represents the same in the world. Trump cares for himself first, then it is “America first”, though not Canada and Latin America. Biden’s shades are in line with the EU. Before the pandemic shook the election campaign and the economy, he promised in an article to “immediately renew democracy and alliances” as soon as he was elected. The first thing he wants to do is bring the United States back into the Paris Agreement, and he has appointed former Secretary of State John Kerry as something of a “climate ambassador.” Biden will also lead the United States back to the World Health Organization, which the EU will strengthen in the wake of the pandemic. The EU also hopes to save the Iran deal and resume disarmament work.

Neither the world, the United States nor the European Union are like in the Obama era. The EU saw the US elections as a historic test of democracy under high pressure, which could also provide some lessons about the demagogic forces in the EU. “The turnout is historically high, unfortunately the polarization is the same,” said German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

EU leaders he had agreed to be cautious and coordinate his statements on the election. But some could not stay, as so many times in the EU: Janez Janša, the Prime Minister of Slovenia, was the first to congratulate, yes, Trump, and then came the Prime Minister of Ireland, Michael Martin, who only had to congratulate to Biden, born in Ireland. Then followed the congratulations to Biden from everyone else at the same time at 7pm when the result was clear.

The EU welcomes Biden with a comprehensive plan for cooperation in democracy, trade, technology, health (only now the pandemic), climate, protection of the oceans, the fight against deforestation and global fiscal rules. But Biden has big challenges at home, he has to reunite a divided people, he has the epidemic, the economy and unemployment, and he will likely have political opposition in the Senate. The EU hopes that this will not require all its might and is more than willing to help.

With Biden, everything got more difficult

I vile restore strong ties with the United States, but have a more balanced relationship than before. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von de Leyen, speaks of “a new transatlantic relationship for the current global panorama”. It wants a summit between the EU and the US in the first half of 2021. The experience of the last few years has led EU leaders to reconsider the idea of ​​achieving “strategic autonomy”, a goal that was adopted on June 24, 2016, but which was quickly forgotten because the British had decided the day before to leave the EU. When von der Leyen called Biden, he said that “a strong EU is in the interest of the United States.”