US election

Le Monde reports on the unprecedented situation during the US election. Trump declared himself winner of the presidential election even before all votes were counted. Moreover, Trump alleges that the elections are “rigged” and has threatened to go to the Supreme Court to stop the counting of the votes. During the presidential elections of 2000, between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the Court eventually had to intervene to decide on the winner. The Court’s decision, however, came a month after all ballots were counted. Trump hinting at Supreme Court intervention in ongoing elections comes without any meaningful evidence of fraud or irregularities. The United States, one of the oldest democracies in the world, finds itself in an unprecedented situation, one where a sitting president deliberately disrupts the electoral process, claims victory before its completion, and threatens to embroil an independent court over which he is not supposed to exercise power. 

Read the full article

RTL reports on the reactions of governments in Europe and around the world to the American presidential election. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called on US officials to "trust the electoral process." Maas, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, insisted on the need to "be patient and wait" for the end of the count. Jean-Yves Le Drian, Foreign Minister for France, emphasised the relations between the United States and the European Union. He said that the US and EU need to develop a "new transatlantic relationship" after the election, irrespective of who wins. “The choice of a president is up to the Americans. Then we will have to work with the elected personality and with the new American government, no matter what," he added. For the United Kingdom, the relations with the US will go “from strength to strength” whatever the outcome, said British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab. He did add that the UK will remain “firm supporters of the Paris Agreement.” Both Raab and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson declined to comment on Trump’s premature claim to victory. Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša has congratulated Donald Trump on Twitter for winning the elections before all votes have been counted and the official outcome has been announced. 

Deutsche Welle writes about the future of EU-US relations. The transatlantic relationship has taken a beating during Trump’s presidency. “You will not be able to return time to the good old days. So there will still be problems in the transatlantic relations. But with respect to a Biden presidency, there are hopes that the situation could substantially improve," said Janis Emmanouilidis, the director of the European Policy Centre, a Brussels think tank. Trump has identified Europe as a bigger evil than other global players. Reinhard Bütikofer, European Green Party MEP and a foreign policy expert, remarked that "When we hear that President Trump says the European Union is a foe, that doesn't make an argument from Washington stronger in the European public discourse.” Nevertheless, Bütikofer thinks there are still many politicians in Washington and in the US Congress—including Republicans—who are aware that cooperation with Europe is needed to deal with China, Russia and other global players. Researchers at the European Council on Foreign Relations think the US would rejoin the 2015 Paris Agreement and the World Health Organization, as well as strengthen NATO—even if the US would continue to press for European nations to contribute more to the military alliance's budget. Many in Brussels hope that a Biden presidency could help bring about change, but Emmanouilidis believes the rather gentle treatment Europe has given China so far would also not particularly please a Democratic president. "One challenge could, for example, be that the new Biden administration says: 'We're ready to cooperate when it comes to multilateral issues, we're ready to cooperate on climate, we're ready to cooperate on the WTO. But we want you in exchange to be tough, for example, on China,'" he said. 

To Vima writes about the shift in the international system brought about by Trump’s presidency. Donald Trump has not performed as poorly as the polls might have suggested. In fact, he has increased his votes for women, African Americans and minorities. From the point of view of the international system and Europe, however, the rules, systems, and institutions built after the Second World War have completely disintegrated under Trump’s leadership and his short-sighted policy of ‘America First.’ Moreover, America withdrew from global institutions and processes in a spate of isolationist exercises. Europe, with the exception of Poland and Turkey, seems generally concerned about the future of EU-US relations. The transatlantic relationship cannot return to the old, traditional model since, for instance, the EU and the US have become economic competitors, unlike in the past, and the new political elites that dominate the US do not understand Europe as much as the old ones. For these reasons, the European Union has a new goal of ‘strategic autonomy’ from the US. As for Greece and Cyprus, the countries hope and expect Joe Biden as President, resulting in ‘control of Turkey.’ If Donald Trump eventually stays in the White House, things will remain more or less the same, or possibly worsen, as a new Trump administration is expected to seek a rapprochement with Turkey.