Joe Biden: The Journey to Europe and the Warning to Moscow

The president of the USA leaves for Europe tomorrow Joe Biden with a dual goal: to promote relations with Washington’s European allies and to issue a warning to Moscow.

The symbolism is strong: on his first trip abroad, the 46th president of the United States chose to support the transatlantic ties, which were severely tested during the 45th presidency.

“My trip to Europe is an opportunity for America to activate democracies around the world,” he wrote. USA at the heart of the ideological confrontation with authoritarian regimes, with China and Russia at the helm.

Since joining the White House, he has kept repeating that the United States has returned to the table of multilateral international cooperation, determined to play a key role in a range of issues ranging from tackling the pandemic to climate change. the AMPE.

However, after the relief caused by his departure Donald Trump After his troubled term, a kind of impatience has begun to be seen on the part of Europeans.

According to Benjamin Haddad of the Atlantic Council, although the tone is clearly constructive, a “disappointment” begins to be seen.

“There is a lot of talk about ‘America is back,’ there is a positive rhetoric, but now we have to move on.”

The distribution of American vaccines in other countries it has, for many, been long overdue. The absence of reciprocity from Washington following the European Union’s decision to open its doors to American travelers has caused resentment. And the way in which the withdrawal from Afghanistan was announced, without prior consultation, did not satisfy the European capitals.

The cyclical priorities associated with the opening of Biden’s presidency explain this situation. But there are deeper reasons. “Basically, Europe is much less central to American foreign policy than it was 20 or 30 years ago,” said Benjamin Haddad.

The doubts of the allies

The fact is that the term of Trump, who, among other things, had described NATO as obsolete, has left its mark.

“The allies still have doubts and do not forget the forces that brought Trump to the presidency in 2016,” said US diplomat Alexander Versbo, a former deputy secretary general of the Atlantic Alliance.

Joe Biden will participate in the G7 summit (G7) (Germany, Canada, USA, France, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom) in Cornwall on Thursday, following his meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

On Sunday, he will visit First Lady Jill Biden Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. In the 69 years of her reign, Elizabeth II has met all current US presidents except Lyndon Johnson.

Joe Biden will then head to Brussels for the NATO Summit and for the EU / US Summit, to conclude its European tour in Geneva with its meeting with the President of Russia Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine, Belarus, Alexei Navalny, cyber-attacks: US-Russia talks will be tough and difficult. The White House is exchanging conciliatory tones and harsh warnings and does not have high expectations from the US-Russian summit.

The memory of Helsinki

The US presidency has given very little information about the four-on-four Geneva, implying that a joint press conference is not on the agenda.

The memory of the Trump-Putin summit in July 2018 in Helsinki remains intense and unpleasant. It was then that Donald Trump considered the words of the Russian president more credible than the unanimous conclusions of the US intelligence services about Russia’s involvement in the 2016 presidential election.

Biden’s team assures that the tone will be very different this time.

“We do not think a meeting with the Russian president will be a reward for him,” said National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Main reason for holding this summit? “Let’s look President Putin in the eye and tell him: this is what the American side is waiting for.”

“The dialogue with Russia “It’s not a sign of weakness,” said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg after meeting with Joe Biden at the Oval Office yesterday.

And in a symbolic move two days before he left Washington for Europe, Joe Biden invited his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky to visit him in Washington over the summer.

You may also like