European Union Recognizes Joe Biden as U.S. President-Elect – Looks Forward To Working With New Administration
By Gary Raynaldo DIPLOMATIC TIMES
European Union foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell “warmly” congratulated President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris for their “historic victory” in the U.S. elections. Borrell said the EU is looking forward to better ties with the U.S. under the new Biden administration.
“Last week the whole world was following with a lot of attention and suspense the elections in the United States. And, I want to congratulate American people for the largest participation in the United States electoral history. It clearly shows that American citizens were very much aware of the importance of this election. Americans demonstrated the importance and capacity of democratic institutions and civic engagement. And, of course, I want to warmly congratulate President-elect, Joe Biden, and Vice-President-elect, Kamala Harris, for their historic victory.”
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell
European Union Partnership With U.S. Is A Priority: Borrell
Credit: europa.ba / Josep Borrell, High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-
Borrell addressed the European Parliament on relations with the U.S. during a plenary session, in Brussels, Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2020. “I am glad to see that you give to this event all the importance it has and to have a look at the future of our partnership with the United States. It is an important thing, a priority for our future engagement and our future foreign policy.” Borrell told the European Parliament. Borrell said the 27-member bloc EU has a common history, shared values and adheres to democratic principles in is bilateral relationship with the U.S.
Borrell Acknowledges EU-U.S. Tension Under Trump Administration
President Trump had a strained relationship with the NATO military alliance, with his demands the bloc spend more on defense and even threatened to withdraw from NATO. Ahead of this years presidential elections, Transatlantic relations were at lowest levels in recent memory.
“It is no secret either that in the past four years, things have become complicated in our relations. I am looking forward to getting back to a frank dialogue – well, the dialogue has always been frank – and, whenever possible, to formulating strategies and putting the necessary resources to make them possible. First of all, I think that we have to welcome the clear commitment of President-elect Biden to restore unity and respect for democratic norms and institutions and to work with allies based on true partnership.”
-EU foreign affairs chief Borrell
Borrell Lays Out Global Challenges at Heart of Transatlantic Agenda
“Let me give a quick look at the wide spectrum of global challenges that will be at the heart of our transatlantic agenda. There are some priorities that I want to highlight: to re-energize the cooperation in the multilateral fora, in particular in the United Nations; to continue working in promoting the full respect of human rights; to address the difficulties in the World Trade Organization, especially the dispute settlement mechanism; to cooperate in fighting the Covid-19, including strengthening the working of the World Health Organization and the capacity of the global health system, starting with preparedness and response to emergencies; to accelerate ambitious global climate action and to invest in harnessing the technological transformation; to look at China, Iran and our Neighbourhood, and we will try to reach a common approach with the United States – we already started, with the previous administration, in the last weeks, but for sure, now it is going to be, I hope, easier. We also need to become a stronger global player, for a stronger transatlantic partnership benefitting the NATO”.
