After four years of rocky relations with the US under Donald Trump, leading European politicians say Joe Biden's presidency is a chance for a restart. Portugal's foreign minister called on the EU to "seize the momentum."
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US President-elect Joe Biden's first Cabinet appointments have been seen as welcome news for many leading politicians in Europe. The fact that so many Obama administration alumni, including Biden himself, are set to return to the White House indicates a departure from the often-fraught ties between the US and European Union during the era of Donald Trump.
Portugal's foreign minister, Augusto Santos Silva, told DW that it was important the EU rebuild what he called the "trans-Atlantic bond." Brussels must "seize the momentum to restore the relationship between the Europeans and the Americans as a relationship of allies," he said.
Antony Blinken, tapped to be the next secretary of state, served as Washington's number two diplomat under Barack Obama. Jake Sullivan, named the next national security adviser, served in a similar capacity for Biden when he was vice president.
Perhaps most familiar to EU officials is John Kerry, Obama's former secretary of state who will act as an envoy on climate change for the Biden White House.
President-elect Joe Biden has begun announcing Cabinet positions as he prepares to take over the White House. Most picks thus far served under President Barack Obama. The US Senate must confirm most of these nominees.
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Antony Blinken, Secretary of State
Blinken is a longtime confidant of President-elect Joe Biden. He's served under two Democratic presidents as well as a key aide on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He also served as a deputy national security adviser and deputy secretary of state in the second Obama administration, when Biden was vice president.
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General Lloyd Austin, Defense Secretary
Austin was a controversial pick — his long career as a military officer requires a Congressional waiver before he can be confirmed. Austin held a series of prominent roles in the US Army and worked with Obama during the US withdrawal from Iraq. If successful, he would be the first Black Pentagon chief.
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Janet Yellen, Treasury Secretary
Biden's nominee for the top position — the first woman ever if confirmed — goes some way towards fulfilling his promise to select a diverse cabinet. Yellen served on the policymaking committee of the Federal Reserve during the 2008 financial crisis and advised Bill Clinton. She would be taking the reigns during one of the worst economic crises in US history.
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Ron Klain, Chief of Staff
A veteran of Washington DC, Klain was an early pick for Biden. As White House chief of staff, he will work closely with the president, setting his agenda and coordinating the levers of power. Klain worked with Biden before when he was vice president as well as serving directly under former President Barack Obama as the Ebola Czar.
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Xavier Becerra, Health Secretary
The California Attorney General was picked to head up the health department under Biden's incoming cabinet during a global health crisis that has hit the US particularly hard. Becerra also helped in passing the Affordable Care Act when he sat in Congress. If confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first Latino appointed to the role.
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John Kerry, climate change envoy
The former secretary of state will become Biden's special presidential envoy for climate. Kerry served as a senator from Massachusetts from 1983 to 2013 before taking the top foreign policy role in the second Obama administration. Kerry signed the Paris Climate Agreement for the United States in 2015 — Donald Trump pulled the US out of the accord two years later.
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Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US ambassador to the UN
Thomas-Greenfield served in high-level State Department positions under Obama from 2013 to 2017. She led US policy in sub-Saharan African during the Ebola outbreak. Biden plans to restore the UN ambassador role to a White House Cabinet position.
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Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security
The Cuban-American headed Citizenship and Immigration Services under Obama. He led the implementation of the DACA program that allowed so-called Dreamers, who were brought to the US illegally as children, to stay in the country. If confirmed, he would become the first immigrant and Hispanic to head the Department of Homeland Security.
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Jake Sullivan, National Security Adviser
Sullivan served as Biden's national security adviser from 2013 to 2014 while he was vice president. He also served as Hillary Clinton's deputy when she was Secretary of State. He later served as her chief foreign policy adviser during her unsuccessful presidential bid in 2016.
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Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence
Haines was the first woman to serve as deputy director of the CIA, a role she held from 2013 to 2015. She succeeded Antony Blinken as deputy national security adviser when he moved over to the state department in 2015. If confirmed, she would be the first woman to head the US intelligence community.
"I think there is an opportunity right now with the election of President Biden and the appointment of the next Secretary of State, Blinken, who is a very pro-European diplomat and politician," said Santos Silva, who was in Berlin on Tuesday to meet with his German counterpart Heiko Maas.
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Portugal is due to take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union from Germany in January.
"The problem with the Trump administration was that President Trump treated his European allies as if they were enemies or adversaries," Santos Silva said. "We are not adversaries of America. We are good friends of America. We are allies."
German Foreign Minister Maas echoed Santos Silva's sentiments while speaking in Berlin, saying he wants to "repair" trans-Atlantic ties under Biden after years of "damage control" with the Trump administration.
Norbert Röttgen, a foreign policy expert for German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative CDU party, called Biden's Cabinet appointments "the best that we could have wished for."
Speaking to the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland newspaper group, Röttgen noted that he knew Blinken, Sullivan and Kerry personally, and had been "talking to them for years."
"Their view of the world is very similar to ours," he said, adding they can "bring a new energy into the trans-Atlantic relationship."
"I think the EU sees it also has an opportunity, because they have a huge agenda of things that have not worked with the Trump administration — on trade and technology — that are now open to agreement," said Henning Riecke of the German Council on Foreign Relations.
Riecke told DW that Biden's administration opens up the possibility for ending punitive tariffs on European companies, as well as working together more closely with the EU on foreign policy. For instance, Brussels and Washington "could agree again on deeper cooperation and a joint approach when it comes to meeting China's rise, especially in the area of technology," he said.
"Europe has a lot to offer, and it must offer it now," Riecke added.
