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A year ago, Joe Biden entered his first meeting of the Group of Seven most industrialized countries in the world as president, and confidently told his closest allies in the United States that “America is back.” Now, many of them are worried that America is slipping.
As President Biden meets this week in the Bavarian Alps with the leaders of the G-7’s largest democratic economies, he brings with him the burden of domestic political problems, shocking gun incidents and the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Roe case. against Wade who in 1973 had made abortion a constitutional right.
President Biden’s meeting in 2021 was seen as an attempt to make clear his distancing from the ideology “First America” of his predecessor, President Donald Trump.
Embracing multilateralism and global partnerships and restoring confidence in America’s alliances, NATO’s self-defense alliance, were at the top of his agenda. The British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at the time to President Biden, “We are completely in line.”
Mr Biden’s victory in the presidential election was hailed by most allies as a resumption of American engagement, a return to decades-old norms, with predictability and stability at the forefront.
A year later, the reception for President Biden remains warm and the public emphasis on America’s global leadership remains optimistic, especially in the context of President Biden, uniting the world against the Russian attack on Ukraine. But increasingly, this view is being seen against the backdrop of potential problems in the future.
“I think the Europeans are definitely looking at the internal situation in the United States with a degree of fear.” says Max Bergmann, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Mr Biden’s visit to Europe comes as a Congressional committee is investigating an attempt to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election by former President Trump and his allies, whose party is expected to score significant victories in the November congressional election. american. Armed violence, a unique American problem compared to other developed countries, has been condemned by the Allies. And the Supreme Court ruling allowing states to ban abortion sparked a new round of denunciations and concerns from some of the United States’ closest partners.
“Abortion is a fundamental right for all women.” wrote on Twitter the French president Emmanuel Macron. “It simply came to our notice then. “I want to express my solidarity with women whose freedoms are being violated by the United States Supreme Court.” he added.
President Biden told reporters Sunday evening that the topic of the abortion decision had not been raised in his talks with world leaders.
“It has nothing to do with Ukraine or any of the issues discussed.” he said, answering categorically “no” when asked if the issue had been raised by other participants in the G-7 summit.
However, when the Supreme Court ruling came out Friday morning, President Biden was the third G-7 leader to react, succeeding the prime ministers of Canada and Britain. Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson quickly condemned the Supreme Court ruling, before President Biden made his first comments on the issue in the White House.
“I have to tell you that I think it is a big step backwards.” Mr. Johnson said Friday. “I have always believed in the right of a woman to choose and I stand by that view and that is why the UK has a law on this.” he added.
Prime Minister Trudeau called the decision “terrible”, adding: “No government, politician or man should tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body.” He said he could not “imagine the fear and anger” that women in the United States might experience after the decision.
Following the shooting deaths of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, condolences came from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, even though the country’s armed forces have dealt with many times the number of victims of Russian aggression.
“The people of Ukraine share the grief of the relatives and friends of the victims and of all Americans.” he wrote on Twitter at the time.
Mr Bergmann said that while European leaders may have differing views on the merits of the Roe v. Wade decision, they are deeply concerned about the impact the decision could have.
“They saw the January 6 attack and are very concerned about America’s internal stability. “We are dealing with a decision… that has the potential to upset and ignite American policy and further deepen divisions, and that is very worrying.” he says.
Europeans, he added, look at American domestic strife through their security lenses.
“The fundamental concern is what this means for the United States as a guarantor of its security.” he said. “Will America be strong enough to resist this?”
Asked how the decision on abortion would affect America’s position in the world, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called the decision extreme that endangered same-sex marriage and access to contraceptives for married couples. But she said President Biden’s stance on the global sphere was unchanged.
“We have already heard from many leaders” she told reporters aboard the Air Force One presidential plane on her way to Germany. “Some of them have made very loud statements about the decision,” he said, adding that they were “offering support to the American people.”
“I do not think that stops the work that the president will do or wants to do or seeks to do with the leaders.” added spokeswoman Jean-Pierre.
For his part, Mr. Johnson denied that he had any specific fears about the future of America in general.
“Following developments from abroad, it was very strange.” he told CNN on Sunday when asked about the events of January 6, 2021, regarding efforts to overturn the outcome of the presidential election. “I do not believe that American democracy is under serious threat, but it is far from it. “I continue to believe that America is the greatest global guarantor of democracy and freedom.”
Most G-7 countries tend to be more liberal than the US on a range of issues, and Mr. Trump’s questioning of old alliances shocked heads of state and government.
President Biden’s message for America’s return to the world stage has been met with new questions from citizens of allied countries.
“I think America is divided.” said 59-year-old Gabriele Jocher, a freelance social worker from the town of Garmisch in Germany, just a few miles from the meeting place. “I think there are very good forces and people who really want to move forward, but there are others who want to go far behind. “It just makes me think, globally, what is going on there that two forces are colliding.”
Christina Maurer, 59, from the picturesque town, added: “Everything that Mr. Biden wants to change now, I do not know. Then another one will come, his name will be Trump or something similar and he will destroy everything again “./ VOA
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