Joe Biden has already been on German soil as US President, but not for a proper bilateral visit. He now wants to make up for that – shortly before he says goodbye to the White House.
Washington/Berlin – US President Joe Biden will visit Germany in mid-October. Biden will travel to Germany on October 10 and will travel on to Angola on October 13, the White House announced. The US President will meet with leading German politicians in Germany “to further strengthen the close ties between the United States and Germany as allies and friends and to coordinate on common priorities.”
Biden wants to thank Germany for Ukraine support
During his visit, Biden also wants to reaffirm the US and Germany’s commitment to democracy and the fight against anti-Semitism and hatred, according to the government headquarters in Washington. He also intends to express his appreciation to Germany for its support of Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. Germany is contributing to the security of the United States and the entire NATO alliance, it said. The White House did not initially provide any further details about Biden’s trip to Germany.
The “Tagesspiegel” had previously reported that Biden wanted to travel to Berlin for three days. The Berlin police are already clarifying special shift and service arrangements for this. Last week, the US newspaper “The Hill” reported on the president’s travel plans, citing sources close to Biden, but without an exact date.
It is Biden’s first bilateral visit to Germany in his four-year term in office and the first visit by a US president to Berlin since Barack Obama visited then-Prime Minister Angela Merkel (CDU) in the Chancellery on his farewell tour in November 2016.
Biden’s term ends soon
Although Biden attended the G7 summit in Elmau in 2022 and on another occasion made a refueling stop with his government plane at the military base in Ramstein, there has not been a regular bilateral visit so far.
The 81-year-old will leave office in January. In July, under great pressure from his own party, he withdrew from the campaign for a second term and left the field to his deputy, Kamala Harris. The reason for this was great concerns within the party about his age and mental state.
Before he dropped out of the presidential race, Biden had reduced his foreign travel to a minimum because of the election campaign. But now he has more time for his official duties – and is working on his political legacy in the remaining months before he leaves the White House.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to the US capital several times during Biden’s presidency – but always for working visits and not for a state visit accompanied by special protocol pomp.
Trip to Africa repeatedly postponed
Biden had long promised a trip to the African continent, but kept postponing it. Now the White House announced that Biden would travel on to Angola after his stop in Germany. Several members of Biden’s cabinet had previously visited various countries on the African continent. dpa
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