US President Joe Biden spoke at the White House on the 23rd, addressing the need to regulate guns in relation to the Colorado shootings. Washington = AP Newsis
“U.S. President Joe Biden will cooperate with EU leaders to’revitalize’ relations between the two sides.” (White House) “Welcome. It’s time to rebuild our’Bino-Atlantic Alliance’” (Chairman Charles Michelle EU Summit)
The U.S. and the EU, eager to restore the Atlantic alliance, finally meet in one place. On the 25th (local time), President Biden will attend the summit meeting of the 27 EU member states. It has been 12 years since the’Prague Summit’ in 2009 when the President of the United States saw all of the EU leaders at once. Although it is a video conferencing format, the meaning is by no means light. Even before face-to-face, the two sides greeted the ebb and flow of reunion through a statement.
The reason for paying attention to this meeting is not limited to the form of alliance restoration. It is worth noting that the meeting will be held on the 22nd immediately after Western allies joined forces to blow a’sanction bomb’ on China. It can be interpreted that a series of steps from sanctions to the summit are being carried out under meticulous calculations. Of course, China and Russia are also included in the core agenda. The White House openly declared that “we will discuss common foreign policy interests including China and Russia.” If the pile of sanctions were the signal for the’public united front’, the summit meeting is the first step in a full-fledged’anti-China joint action’.
I have already finished the’bottom work’. US Secretary of State Tony Blincoln attended the meeting of the foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the 23rd, and re-opened the’Direct Atlantic Passage’ that had been blocked between the US and the EU. When Minister Blincoln reached out a helping hand of reconciliation, saying, “I hope the United States will reactivate the alliance with NATO,” NATO foreign ministers responded, saying, “We have reaffirmed the permanent ties between Europe and North America.” This is a distinctly different move from the time of the former Donald Trump administration, which deprecated NATO as a’old relic’ or forced member states to spend 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) as defense expenses for’security free rides’. According to AFP, Minister Blincoln also meets with EU Executive Chairman Ursula von der Leien and Senior EU Foreign and Security Policy Representative Josef Borrell to discuss China-Russia issues.
The agendas such as overcoming the new coronavirus pandemic (Corona 19) pandemic and joint response to climate change, which the White House announced that it will put on the table of the summit, are accelerating the concentration of the alliance. If the issue of supplying the vaccine for Corona 19 is dealt with here, it will be a gold medal. The EU is struggling enough to mobilize an export ban due to a lack of vaccines. The U.S. is a producer of AstraZeneca vaccines, but it has not yet been approved for use, so millions of them are stacked in warehouses. However, President Biden has not been able to help the EU by signing a vaccine export ban issued by the former administration shortly after taking office.
“The EU has lobbied the White House to export AstraZeneca vaccines to Europe,” said the Daily Guardian in the UK. “EU officials expect the Biden administration to change its export policy as the vaccine issue is discussed as a hot topic at this meeting.” There is” he said.
Kim Pyo-hyang reporter [email protected]
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