Improved relations between the United States and the European Union? ‘It won’t be until Biden’

This is his first speech to Europe from the White House in Munich this afternoon: Joe Biden wants to re-establish loving relations with America’s traditional allies, and wants to convince them that he is eager to cooperate.

“I send a clear message to the world: the United States is back. The Atlantic Alliance is back. We are not looking back, we are looking to the future. The partnership with Europe is a cornerstone,” Biden said.

As of today, the United States is officially participating in the Paris Climate Agreement again. Under Donald Trump, the Americans walked out. Trump said the deal was bad for U.S. citizens and “unfair” to the United States. According to Trump, the climate deal will cost millions of jobs.

Instead, Biden called on his European allies to double down on the fight against climate change and warned of a “global existential crisis.”

What is the policy of Europe?

The new US president wants a better relationship between the United States and the European Union than in recent years. According to two leading experts in international politics, it will not be until Biden.

“He knows Europe, he does not need a training, you do not have to explain things to him. The problem with Europe is high because we are not a federal association,” said Franுவாois Heisberg, special adviser to the international agency. For strategic studies in Paris.

“The United States should ask Europe, what is your agenda? We want to talk about climate change, an agreement with Iran and so on, but the Biden administration should first ask Europe: What is your policy?” Judy Dempsey, European arm of the Carnegie Foundation, an American think tank.

“The EU has a lot to do with the United States, and much of it has been damaged under the Trump administration: the Iranian documents, climate change, the restoration of multilateral relations, the whole agenda,” Dempsey said.

Biden spoke at a number of new collaborations at the Munich Security Conference online after his foreign ministry said yesterday that “the United States is ready to discuss a diplomatic approach to Iran’s nuclear program.” Because Trump also withdrew from that deal with Iran.

In recent decades Heisburg and Dempsey have consistently clashed with Python. “He has a passion for Europe,” Heisberg said. “But the strategic center of the world is no longer Europe, it’s Asia.”

European leaders think they are going back to the good old days with Biden, Heisberg says. “The Trump era is behind us. Relationships will be ‘civilized’ again, but the previous world is no more.”

Some consensus

Both experts say the United States’ main foreign issue revolves around its relationship with China. “The new relationship with Europe depends on whether Americans think Europe is aiding or abetting their relationship with China. This is important to Biden, but it will be important to any US president,” Heisberg said.

“The EU puts interests above values ​​and terms,” says Dempsey. “Biden did not want to criticize the Europeans, but the trade deal with China at the end of last year was disappointing. Biden is not really freeing his hands now.”

“The only consensus in the United States at the moment is that the United States must confront China. The only thing more or less agreed upon by Republicans and Democrats is the great challenge facing European diplomats and heads of state,” Heisberg said.

Problems at home

This is because while the entire EU will eventually mobilize behind the trade deal with China, there is considerable division in other areas. Heisburg: “Division in a matter like China is a luxury we can’t afford.”

Then there are issues for the EU such as the fall of the rule of law in Poland and Hungary. Trump has nothing but praise for leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Orban. But it will be different under Pitan.

“We need to show that democracies can still mean something to the people. That is our goal. Democracy should not happen by accident, it should be protected, strengthened and renewed. We need to prove that this is not a monument of history,” Biden said.