What does Biden's visit to Berlin mean for NATO and EU?

euronews (in English)

US President Joe Biden is visiting Germany this week after Hurricane Milton forced him to cancel his trip originally scheduled last week. What could his visit ahead of the US election mean for NATO and the EU?

Transcript

00:00U.S. President Joe Biden is visiting Berlin on Thursday and Friday after Hurricane Milton

00:05forced him to cancel his trip originally scheduled last week.

00:09A meeting at Ramstein Air Base with Ukrainian President Zelensky and key European leaders

00:14was also postponed.

00:15But with next month's U.S. election looming in the background, many are wondering if Biden's

00:20visit this week will bring Ukraine closer to NATO membership.

00:23I mean, I'd be surprised if anything that fundamental was announced after this meeting.

00:27I think this meeting is more symbolic.

00:30I think it's for, you know, Biden to sort of underscore again how important support

00:36for Ukraine is, how important, you know, the U.S. engagement with Europe is and U.S. leadership.

00:42This has been a major legacy of his presidency.

00:44So I think he just wanted to kind of signal that again and set the stage.

00:50But really big decisions like the future of Ukraine, NATO membership aren't going to happen

00:54before November.

00:56And also the Europeans are going to have to play a role there.

01:00And what could the U.S. elections mean for the future of NATO?

01:03The negative scenario under Trump, but even Harris, if you have Harris and a really divided

01:11or stuck EU, as we framed it, is a very weakened NATO, because you have a massive security

01:18threat in the eastern border of the continent that requires either a really strong U.S.

01:25presence or something to change on the European side and for the Europeans to gain capabilities.

01:32And if the Europeans don't do that, then you'll have a very weakened NATO right away in 2025

01:40and a very weakened European security.

01:41Let's put it that way.

01:42You know, this one and under Harris presidency, you know, I'm American.

01:46And with Harris presidency, you're looking at a similar result, less dramatic, but by

01:512027, 2028 as well, because the U.S. simply doesn't have the capacity to stay focused

01:57on Europe to the extent that it has.

02:00Security experts are urging Europe to take a more united approach in producing weapons

02:04and say that Europe needs to accelerate making tough decisions for the future of NATO.

02:09Liv Stroud for Euronews.

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