As a politician facing the mid-term congressional election, Biden will be like a laser focus on the pandemic, reopening the economy, unemployment, infrastructure, healthcare and an economic stimulus in his first year. Said Kupchan. “There will be a lot less time, energy and money for foreign policy.”
Sophia Besch and Luigi Scazzieri from the Center for European Reforms argue in a new paper that “many Europeans want to forget about Trump’s presidency that ever took place”. But they add: “Europe cannot look any further to the US for important questions about what its interests are and how to pursue them.”
This is especially true for defense, which is where most European leaders agree that more needs to be spent.
The German Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer claims that the Europeans cannot replace America as a security service provider, as can the Central and Eastern European heads of state and government. Others, however, notably French President Emmanuel Macron and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles, argue that Europeans cannot be sure of America’s reliability.
Mr Biden’s victory should not distract or discourage Europeans from an aim of more independent defense and more strategic autonomy, they say, even in the context of NATO.
There are certain issues such as terrorism, instability in North Africa and migration that Europeans feel they need to be able to act more effectively on themselves.
“Where we Europeans have to pay attention to our expectations of the Americans is in our neighborhood,” said Nathalie Tocci, director of the Italian Institute for International Affairs. On issues such as Belarus, Ukraine and the Balkans, “coordination with the US is important, but we cannot expect the US to step up its engagement,” she said.
