After four frosty years with a German-American president, chancellor Angela Merkel expressed hope on Monday that Irish-American president-elect Joe Biden will revive the “treasure” of transatlantic ties.
In her first personal remarks since the US presidential election, Dr Merkel described Mr Biden as someone with “a great deal of experience with Germany and Europe”.
“I remember good encounters and conversations with him,” she said, congratulating him “very warmly” on his victory.
Aware that not all tensions will vanish with the Trump administration, in particular disputes over Nato burden-sharing, the chancellor said: “Germans and Europeans know that in this partnership in the 21st century we have to take on more responsibility.”
“America is and will remain our closest ally, but it expects more from us – and rightly so. We are working on it.”
Mr Biden will be the fourth US president Dr Merkel has worked with – a year before she leaves office after four terms. Her officials say the chancellor has urged her ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) to prioritise a plan for transatlantic ties beyond the Biden term.
Foreign minister Heiko Maas, a Social Democrat (SPD) from her junior coalition partner, has promised “concrete plans” on how to strike a “new deal” with the new administration.
“We will need to strengthen the European pillar within Nato,” he said. “The US won’t be the world police any more.”
Icy statement
After the election of Donald Trump, Dr Merkel delivered an icy statement of congratulations, noting that Germany and the US were united by respect for democracy, the rule of law and human dignity, “regardless of origin, skin colour, religion, gender, sexual orientation or political views”.
“I offer the next president of the United States a close co-operation on the basis of these values,” she said in 2016.
After enduring four years of personal insults, and political attacks on Germany, Berlin officials say they are hoping for normality dealing with a more multilateral Biden administration.
Rather than look back, Dr Merkel on Monday ignored Mr Trump by name in her remarks and chose instead to look forward.
At some length she congratulated vice president-elect Kamala Harris as an “inspiration” and symbol “of what is possible in America”.
In another indication of Berlin’s determination to reset ties, Germany is backing a push to delay EU tariffs on $4 billion (€3.4 billion) worth of US products as soon as Tuesday.
