BRUSSELS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th November, 2020) After Democrat candidate Joe Biden was declared the winner of US elections by the media and by his team, some European politicians were eager to recognize his purported victory in the November 3 presidential election, while others are either skeptical or downright hostile, depending on their political affiliation.
Incumbent President Donald Trump has not yet shown signs of surrender, filing lawsuits to stop the ballot count and investigate alleged irregularities that are said to have propelled his Democrat rival to victory.
This, however, has not prevented many politicians from across the world from embracing Biden as the next leader of the United States. This includes Europe as it has had a complicated history with president Trump who attempted to shift US policies in different directions, leaving many people on the continent none too pleased. For them, Biden signifies a return to normalcy as they understand it.
"I look forward to the future cooperation with President Biden. Our transatlantic friendship is irreplaceable if we want to take on the big challenges of our time," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her statement.
Her sentiment was shared by French President Emmanuel Macron.
"Congratulations [Joe Biden] and [Kamala Harris]! We have a lot to do to overcome today's challenges. Let's work together!" Macron wrote on Twitter.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council Charles Michel also offered their congratulations to Biden, expressing a desire to continue the partnership with the United States after a tortuous relationship with Trump.
The list of Biden well-wishers is already quite long and is expected to grow as time goes by.
LEFTIST PARTIES GLAD AND RELIEVED
Many European parties, in government or the opposition, are pleased with the expected departure of Trump, despite some having reservations about Biden's, the Democrats' and US' positions.
"Yes. We have sincerely celebrated the Democratic victory in the United States. My party, the PNV [Basque Nationalist Party], has stable relationships with that political formation. We believe that with him, US policy will focus, domestically, on closing the gap that has been opened by Trump's policy with extreme polarization," EU lawmaker Izaskun Bilbao Barandica told Sputnik.
Ozlem Alev Demirel from Germany's leftist Die Linke is of a similar opinion.
"Congratulations to the Americans for not allowing Trump's anti-democratic tendencies before and during the count ... With the designated US President Joe Biden, rhetorical relaxation is now returning to domestic and foreign policy in the USA," she said to Sputnik.
Many politicians are expecting that with Biden, the US will become a more agreeable partner than partner compared to the Trump period.
"More than ever we need a solid axis between Brussels and Washington to promote multilateralism in international relations, fight the COVID-19 pandemic, rebuild our economies in the name of sustainability and tackle the terrible threat of terrorism together," EU lawmaker Massimo Castaldo from the Italian Five Star Movement party told Sputnik.
Barandica also advocated the need to return to "multilateralism."
"Europe will once again have a clear ally on the other side of the Atlantic and I hope that very important issues can be relaunched for both spaces and for the world, such as the TTIP [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership]," she said.
At the same time, there are concerns about Biden continuing at least some of Trump's policies in various areas, specifically when it comes to international relations.
"Biden wants to bring NATO closer together in order to position itself more strongly against China. In this context, it is worrying that Biden announced an increase in the US arms budget during the election campaign. Biden himself made it clear that he, like Trump, will not advocate a real policy of disarmament and detente. In view of the trade wars and the open military conflicts, this would be necessary," Demirel lamented.
European lawmaker Kostas Papadakis from Communist Party of Greece is even more critical.
"The fierce competitions between the United States and China over who will hold the first place in the world capitalist economy is unfolding regardless of who is governing the United States. So, whether Trump's 'America First' or Biden's 'Made in All of America' imperialist competitions in the midst of the capitalist crisis which was accelerated by the pandemic, will sharpen with people being called upon to pay the price once again. That is why they need to be vigilant," he told Sputnik.
As could be expected, several of the "populist" parties in Europe have great doubts about Biden's presidency, or even his victory trumpeted by the mainstream US media.
"It is premature to congratulate the president-elect Biden. This is subject to ratification, and there is emerging evidence of fraud, that need to be tackled by the state supreme courts and the Federal one. Joe Biden will not be elected president," Francis Cole, an adviser to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, told Sputnik.
Others have expressed similar reservations regarding Biden's claims.
"The US election result still remains undecided. Accordingly, congratulating Joe Biden seems premature. Mexican President Lopez Obrador, who himself has many reasons to view Trump critically, is holding back on congratulations as long as there is no official confirmation of Biden's victory," EU lawmaker Lars Patrick Berg, a member of the Alternative for Germany party, told Sputnik.
At the same time, like their leftist counterparts, the European right has a much dimmer view on the prospects of US-Europe relations under Biden.
"As for Europe, it should expect the US to remain the dominant power. The EU likes to be submissive and to have the benefit of the American umbrella in NATO, but Biden will also insist that Europe pays for its defense. Biden's multilateralism is seen as good news, but economically, it's not to be assumed that Biden will revert to the situation 'ante' or stop defending the US GAFAMs [Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft]," Thierry Mariani, an EU lawmaker from the National Rally party, told Sputnik.
His colleague, Roman Haider, from the Freedom Party of Austria, thinks that domestic pressure from millions of Trump supporters will prevent Biden from steps that endanger the US job market.
"Europe believes that through Biden a nice, courteous president comes into office who understands Europe and the EU. That will soon be reversed because both Biden and Harris are two tough politicians," Haider told Sputnik.
Gilles Lebreton, another EU lawmaker from the National Rally party, is also not sure that under Biden things will be better for Europe.
"I am not so sure of that, because the withdrawal of the United States and its isolationism seems to me to be a fundamental phenomenon and not simply cyclical," he declared to Sputnik.
