U.S. President Joe Biden waves from Air Force One as he leaves Washington for Dover, Delaware at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, July 7, 2023.
Kevin Wurm | Reuters
Chairperson Joe Biden will leave on Sunday for Europe, where he will spend time in three countries working towards alliances that have been tested by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
After arriving in London for the night, Biden will meet King Charles III the next day for the first time since his coronation. Next was the highlight of the trip, the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. Coalition leaders will discuss the war and revise plans for dealing with Russian aggression.
The final stop is in Helsinki, where Biden on Thursday is expected to celebrate the expanding alliance, with Finland as NATO’s newest member.
His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said the trip would “show the president’s leadership on the world stage.”
Take a look at Biden’s agenda and the issues he will face:
London
Biden arrives in London on Sunday night and is expected to have a full schedule of meetings on Monday.
Max Bergmann, a former Foreign Office official who leads the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said: “The UK has always had a lot to say.
Biden will hold talks with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing St. Sunak is facing an election late next year. His Conservative Party is lagging behind the opposition in opinion polls.
Despite Sunak’s shaky political position, he has fostered a close relationship with Biden and this will be their sixth meeting since Sunak took office last October.
Bergmann said Sunak’s tenure was a nice change after “there was some concern that Boris Johnson,” one of Sunak’s predecessors, “was a cannonball.”
Biden will visit the king at Windsor Castle, the royal residence outside London. Biden did not attend Charles’ coronation – first lady Jill Biden replaced him – so this will be their first meeting since.
They are expected to discuss climate change, an issue highlighted by both leaders, and how to fund initiatives to tackle the problem.
Vilnius
Biden will spend two days in the Lithuanian capital, which hosts the annual NATO summit. He will participate in meetings with leaders and deliver speeches from Vilnius University.
The alliance was revived after the war in Ukraine and its members poured military hardware into the country to help repel the Russian invasion.
Biden on Friday defended what he called the “difficult decision” to supply cluster bombs to Ukraine, a move his administration sees as key to the war and underpinned by Ukraine’s promises. about the cautious use of controversial bombs. Biden is likely to face questions from allies about why the United States is sending weapons into Ukraine that more than two-thirds of NATO members have banned because of its history of causing so many civilian casualties.
For Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the summit “will send a clear message: NATO solidarity and Russian aggression will not come at a cost.”
But NATO has also struggled to heal divisions on key issues. Finland was welcomed to join the union this year, but Sweden’s membership was withheld by Türkiye and Hungary.
There are also disagreements over how quickly the invitation for Ukraine to join NATO should be extended.
Countries on NATO’s eastern flank want to act quickly, seeing it as a way to deter Russian aggression. The US and other countries favor a more cautious approach.
One problem solved, at least for the time being. Mr. Stoltenberg’s term was extended by a year because members could not agree on a new leader.
Senator Thom Tillis, who will be attending the summit, likened the alliance to a gathering of dozens of family members who bicker and clash but remain united.
Tillis, RN.C., says: “At the end of the day, you know you’re a family.
Tillis is leading a bipartisan delegation along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., who said NATO is stronger than before.
“It’s the strongest military alliance in our history, and I think it’s only gotten stronger because of the leadership of the United States, because of the leadership of Stoltenberg, and because of the threat from Vladimir Putin to the United States. all NATO allies and other countries in Europe and around the world and the international order,” she said.
Helsinki
After two nights in Vilnius, Biden visited Helsinki. The stop is part of a winning lap, but can also be a reminder of unfinished business.
The Nordic nation in April became NATO’s 31st member, ending its history of non-alignment and demonstrating how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine backfired in Europe.
Finland is expected to join neighboring Sweden, whose accession has been delayed because of Türkiye and Hungary. NATO requires the consent of all members to expand.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson visited the White House on Wednesday and met with Biden to maintain pressure on membership. But there is little hope that the matter will be resolved in Vilnius.
The White House regards Biden’s Helsinki visit as a “Northern US-European Leaders Summit”.
This is a very different occasion than the last time an American president visited Helsinki five years ago.
During that trip, Donald Trump held a press conference with Putin and brushed off concerns about Russian interference in Trump’s election victory.
Now Biden is heading to the city to demonstrate how his administration has stood firm against Moscow and expanded the defenses of the West.
