Europe looks forward to ‘reset’ with Biden’s US
EUROPEAN politicians have spoken of their hopes for a reset of trans-Atlantic relations under Joe Biden’s administration, saying it will end years of “damage control”.
The comments by German foreign minister Heiko Maas were echoed by his Portuguese counterpart, Augusto Santos Silva, who said Europe wants to be treated as a “full and equal partner” rather than an enemy of the United States.
Mr Biden’s victory over President Donald Trump has been greeted with relief in Europe, where differences with the outgoing administration ranged from trade tensions to defence spending, relations with Chin,a and how to handle Iran’s nuclear program.
Mr Maas said that Mr Biden has made clear he wants to “repair” the
US-European relationship, describing the amends as “urgently necessary”. Mr Maas added that recent years were an exercise in “damage control” on international diplomacy and issues such as climate change.
He said: “Enough of that – with this, we are not doing justice to the challenges we face at present.
“The result, because the West wasn’t working together any more, was that in many issues a vacuum arose that was used by China or Russia.” But he cautioned that Europeans will have to “get out of our seats” to grasp new opportunities and offer to do more themselves as part of what he has termed a “new deal “with the US.
Germany holds the EU’s rotating presidency until the end of December, when it will hand over to Portugal.
Mr Santos Silva also called for new talks with the US on trade relations, noting that a major objection to the Trump administration’s approach was its language. He said: “We were permanently treated by our American friends and the Trump administration not as friends and allies but as adversaries or even enemies.”
The European comments came after the US federal government has recognised Mr Biden as the “apparent winner” of the November 3 presidential election, formally starting the transition of power after Mr Trump spent weeks testing the boundaries of American democracy.
He relented after suffering yet more legal and procedural defeats in his seemingly futile effort to overturn the election with baseless claims of fraud. Mr Trump still refused to concede and vowed to continue to fight in court after General Services Administrator Emily Murphy gave the green light on Monday for Mr Biden to co-ordinate with federal agencies ahead of his inauguration on January 20. But he did tweet that he was directing his team to co-operate on the transition.
Mr Biden was yesterday certified as presidential election winner in Pennsylvania, the US state’s governor said. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, tweeted that the Pennsylvania State Department “certified the results of the November 3 election in Pennsylvania for president and vice-president of the United States.
“As required by federal law, I’ve signed the Certificate of Ascertainment for the slate of electors for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”