Assita Kanko on the EU-US Summit: “Sleepy Joe doesn’t exist, but Sleepy EU does”

As a member of the European Parliament delegation responsible for relations with the United States, MEP Assita Kanko has high hopes for transatlantic relations and the EU’s position on the world stage. “The EU urgently needs to wake up. ‘The United States are back,’ Joe Biden insists. Sleepy EU must seize this opportunity to wake up and strengthen ties with the US.”

On Tuesday, US President Joe Biden will speak in Brussels with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel about the future of relations between the European Union and the United States. According to Assita Kanko, this is the perfect opportunity for the West to prioritise a joint geopolitical strategy on the individual short-term and long-term interests of countries. “I myself have long been pointing out the need to deal firmly with the superpowers China and Russia, which we meet as adversaries in numerous areas.”

On Monday, at the NATO summit - also in Brussels - it became clear that Joe Biden is also on the track of a renewed transatlantic alliance that can tackle many things together on the world stage: security, the defence of democracy against authoritarian forms of government and support for the global recovery of the economy.

Making democracy resilient

“We must, of course, also keep our economic interests in mind, but I remain convinced that the world as a whole benefits from the Western values of democracy, freedom and the right of people and peoples to self-determination. We must make our democracy resilient,” Assita Kanko says. “We must once again defend these principles with greater conviction and boldness. To make that possible, the EU, together with the US, must look at how we build our strategic autonomy and regain diplomatic respect.”

Standing up for Europeans

Assita Kanko realises that Joe Biden is here to defend Americans. “In the same way, the EU must stand up for Europeans. In that sense, there is no difference with Trump; just look at his actions. There is no doubt that the conversation is better than with President Trump, but I am hoping for more: a clear improvement in strategic and diplomatic cooperation. Joe Biden can then put that into practice right away when he goes to the meeting with President Putin in Geneva tomorrow, but I’m not holding my breath.”