Angela Merkel in Washington for a farewell to the taste of unfinished business

Published on : 07/15/2021 – 4:44 PM

Farewell to the taste of unfinished business: Joe Biden receives Angela Merkel, Thursday, July 15, in a frankly peaceful climate between the two countries, even if Washington has so far failed to convince Berlin to adopt a firmer tone in the face to Russia and China.

The German Chancellor was first received in the morning for a working breakfast by Vice-President Kamala Harris, who welcomed her “extraordinary career” by welcoming her.

Angela Merkel said she was “delighted to meet the first vice-president” in the history of the United States.

It is “a visit turned towards the future”, assured a senior official of the American administration, whereas the German chancellor will leave the chancellery after legislative elections in September.

The conservative leader, in power since November 2005, has seen a succession of four American presidents: George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump and, for a few months, Joe Biden.

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She was even sometimes called, during Trump’s tumultuous mandate, “leader of the free world”, a term generally reserved for the tenant of the White House.

Joe Biden’s gesture of appeasement on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline

Angela Merkel will be received at 2 p.m. local (6 p.m. GMT) by Joe Biden, for a little over two hours of interview. The two leaders will give a joint press conference and Angela Merkel will then be invited to dinner, along with her husband Joachim Sauer, by Joe and Jill Biden.

Germany was recently called America’s “best friend” by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and relations have improved dramatically since the change of administration in Washington.

Joe Biden in particular buried a project of his predecessor which had deeply shocked Germany. Donald Trump, who during his presidency stepped up personal attacks against Angela Merkel, had decided to withdraw a third of American troops in the country.

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But all is not rosy between Washington and Berlin, and the Chancellor leaves open a certain number of delicate files. The biggest dispute is the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which connects Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea without passing through Ukraine. He is supported by Berlin, but much criticized in Washington and in Eastern Europe.

President Joe Biden “will express his concern” to the Chancellor and insist on the development “of mechanisms so that energy is not used against Ukraine”, according to the senior official in his administration. But this same source “does not expect an announcement” Thursday.

In a gesture of appeasement, the Biden administration had decided not to sanction the main players in Nord Stream 2, which “gives us diplomatic leeway” to discuss with Berlin, according to the American source.

Convince Berlin to take a hard line with Moscow and Beijing

In general, Joe Biden “needs Angela Merkel and especially her successor to have a less wobbly attitude towards Russia and China”, according to Sudha David-Wilp, of the German Marshall Fund, a center for studies of relations transatlantic.

Washington would like Europe’s largest economy, so concerned with its opulent exports, to put its commercial interests on hold in favor of a more aggressive diplomatic stance.

However, Angela Merkel is, above all, a follower of consensus. She tried to organize a European summit with Vladimir Putin, before giving up in the face of opposition from several members of the European Union.

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The Chancellor is also campaigning for an investment agreement between the EU and China, where Washington would like to convince the Europeans to adopt its hard line against Beijing.

Nothing says that the conservative candidate Armin Laschet, big favorite in the September election, will take a different line if he becomes chancellor.

“Trump’s open hostility has forced Germany to question the unhealthy aspects of its dependence on Americans. (Joe) Biden, on the contrary, wants to treat the Germans as a real partner,” wrote Constanze Stelzenmüller, researcher recently. at the Brookings Institution, in the Financial Times. “That is, it seems, almost asking too much of them.”

With AFP