2023-10-21 04:41:23
The EU and the USA reaffirmed their unity in supporting Israel and Ukraine at a summit. “These conflicts show that democracies have to stand together,” said EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Friday at the meeting with US President Joe Biden and EU Council President Charles Michel in the White House. In a closing statement, participants expressed concern regarding the “worsening humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.”
It is “critically important” to avoid escalation in the region – for example through another war front with the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, the statement published following the summit said.
“We stood together to support the brave people of Ukraine in the face of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s aggression,” Biden said. “We now stand together to support Israel following Hamas’ horrific terrorist attack.”
Von der Leyen assured that events in the Middle East would not distract from the “unwavering support” for Ukraine.
Michel said the EU and the US would form a “united front”. “The world faces huge challenges today. And now more than ever the world needs a strong alliance between the EU and the US to address these challenges.”
However, there are currently major question marks surrounding the US’s international leadership role. President Biden asked Congress on Friday for more than 75 billion dollars (around 71 billion euros) in new aid for Israel and Ukraine. However, Parliament has been paralyzed for two and a half weeks due to a power struggle between Republicans in the House of Representatives. It is therefore unclear whether and when the funds will be approved.
The parliamentary crisis came to a head on Friday, at the same time as the EU-US summit, when the Republican faction withdrew the nomination of the arch-conservative MP Jim Jordan, who was in the running for chairmanship of the House of Representatives. Former President Donald Trump’s ally had previously failed to obtain the necessary majority in three attempts in the plenary session because many Republicans refused to give him their consent.
At the EU-USA summit on Friday, discussions on dealing with China and climate change were also on the agenda. The attempt to resolve important trade conflicts at the top meeting in Washington failed. A joint statement following Friday’s meeting said only that the two sides had made progress toward an agreement on minerals for car batteries and looked forward to making further progress in the next few weeks. With regard to the special tariffs on steel and aluminum imports introduced by former President Donald Trump, there was only talk of progress that would be made in the next two months.
The last three-party summit with Biden, von der Leyen and Michel took place in Brussels in June 2021. In March 2022, Biden met all 27 EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
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