We will defend the art. 5 of the Atlantic Pact, the one that speaks of mutual defense between the Allies, this is how US President Joe Biden made his debut at the Conference on Defense and Security in Monaco. A blow in the sponge at the idea of the parasitic NATO of the USA that his predecessor Donald Trump had made and then publicly expressed.
The Head of the White House, however, immediately wanted to fix the stakes of his foreign policy with Europe: "today's opponents are China and Russia". The hope of the US administration is that even the major European countries will converge in considering the two countries east of the globe dangerous.
From the first statements on the subject there was a not very assertive reaction from Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron.
Biden is essentially evoking the specter of a new Cold War under the banner of defending democracy: "Democracy must prevail. It is not a relic of history ”.
NATO stressed Biden must be able to face the Russian threat that uses corruption as a weapon to undermine the alliance, recalling Vladimir Putin's attempts to divide Europe and undermine NATO. For these reasons, "It must be our priority to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine".
Merkel has been cold on the American line emphasizing that "sanctions are a diplomatic tool that did not work against Russia ”.
Macron, instead, he launched the most direct thrust: "It is necessary to build, together, a new security architecture within NATO, but also to lay the foundations for a dialogue with Russia which is indispensable for maintaining peace.".
China issue. On China Biden said: “The economic abuses perpetrated by China must be rejected in every way. The one with the Dragon will be a very long and hard competition and Washington will insist on one principle, in the redefinition of commercial relations and the whole world must play by the same rules ”.
The response of the Merkel"China is a so-called strategic competitor and we need it to solve global problems such as climate change and biodiversity ”.
Beyond some initial dissonance, Merkel and Macron renewed their commitment to bring defense spending to 2% of their GDP. On the Iranian dossier on the nuclear deal, Biden confirmed the new line of dialogue with Tehran.