For some European leaders, the relief felt at President Biden’s taking command inside the Oval Office calls for a fairer house than prose.
“In all beginning there dwells a magic force,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told European Union lawmakers, quoting the poet Herman Hesse to capture her feelings about Biden’s inauguration — and former President Donald Trump’s departure. “Joe Biden’s oath will be a message of healing for a deeply divided nation. And it will be a message of hope for a world that is waiting for the U.S. to be back in the circle of like-minded states.”
Biden sought to vindicate that prediction, calling in his first address as the chief executive for an end at home to “this uncivil war that pits red against blue.” Transatlantic allies, especially in Brussels and Western European capitals, hope too for an end to the acrimony that marked the “America first” Trump’s relationship with key leaders due to his dim view of the Paris climate accord, the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and the value of NATO.
“With [Biden], reason and the spirit of partnership are back in the White House,” German lawmaker Norbert Roettgen, who leads the Foreign Affairs committee in Berlin, said Wednesday. “This is a huge relief!”
Chairman of German Bundestag’s foreign affairs committee: “With [Biden], reason and the spirit of partnership are back in the White House. This is a huge relief!” https://t.co/BRTy0RxI8y
— Emily Schultheis (@emilyrs) January 20, 2021
NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, who sought to manage Trump and maintain a public display of unity throughout the last four years of discord over whether allies such as Germany contributed enough to the security bloc, was only somewhat more restrained.
“Today is the start of a new chapter for the transatlantic Alliance,” he said. “U.S. leadership remains essential as we work together to protect our democracies, our values and the rules-based international order. … I look forward to working closely with President Biden and welcoming him to the NATO Summit in Brussels later this year.”
The EU chief’s expectation that Biden will bring the United States back into “the circle of like-minded nations” reflected the widespread European perception that Trump’s presidency was characterized by authoritarian impulses — a judgment unlikely changed in light of his post-election attempt to pressure outgoing Vice President Mike Pence to reject the election results, which culminated in the storming of the Capitol by Trump supporters after the outgoing president whipped them into a fervor at a Jan. 6 rally in Washington.
“The relief that many of us are feeling about the change of administration in Washington should not blind us to the fact that, although Donald Trump’s presidency may be history in just a few hours, his movement will not,” said von der Leyen. “More than 70 million Americans voted for him in the election. Just a few days ago, several hundred of them stormed the Capitol in Washington, the heart of American democracy.”
That crisis and its aftermath, including Twitter’s decision to ban Trump from his signature social media account, should spur a European move to curtail the influence of the major tech platforms, according to von der Leyen.
Yet that controversy will be for another day, she said, “This day brings good news: The United States are back. And Europe stands ready. To reconnect with an old and trusted partner, to breathe new life in our cherished alliance.”
