On a farewell tour US President Biden arrives in Berlin for a short visit
Biden has landed in Berlin for a visit.
Image: dpa
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Berlin for a visit.
Image: dpa
The presidential plane Air Force One, which took off from Washington, arrived at the airport in Berlin on Thursday evening.
Image: dpa
Biden has landed in Berlin for a visit.
Image: dpa
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Berlin for a visit.
Image: dpa
The presidential plane Air Force One, which took off from Washington, arrived at the airport in Berlin on Thursday evening.
Image: dpa
Preparations for the visit were difficult. But now Joe Biden is actually in Berlin. It is the US President's farewell visit, which is shorter than originally planned.
17.10.2024, 22:57
dpa
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- US President Joe Biden has landed in Germany for his visit.
- The presidential plane Air Force One, which took off from Washington, arrived at the airport in Berlin on Thursday evening.
- On Friday, Biden will first be received by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace.
US President Joe Biden has arrived in Berlin for a short visit. Biden's government plane Air Force One landed in the capital late in the evening, where the Democrat plans to meet with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, among others.
The 81-year-old was originally due to travel to Berlin a week earlier, but canceled the trip at short notice due to a hurricane that was heading towards the south-east coast of the USA at the time. Biden is now making up for his visit in a slimmed-down form, with a short working visit instead of a state visit.
Various meetings and a rare honor
On Friday morning, Biden will first be received with military honors by Federal President Steinmeier at Bellevue Palace and will then receive the "Special Level of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany" - the highest award that Germany has to bestow. Of the 14 US presidents who have ruled since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, only George Bush senior has ever been honored with this award.
Afterwards, a meeting with Scholz is planned at the Chancellery. French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will join him later. This will bring together the heads of state and government of the four most powerful NATO partners and Ukraine's most important allies. The main topics of discussion are likely to be the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
Biden had originally wanted to hold a major international conference with various heads of state and government during his visit to Germany at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate to discuss further support for Ukraine. This will now not happen. The White House has announced that the Ukraine summit will be held in November via video link.
A late visit shortly before the end
This is Biden's first bilateral visit to Germany in his almost four-year term of office. Although the US President attended the G7 summit in Elmau in 2022 and made refueling stops with his government plane at the American military base in Ramstein on other occasions, he did not dedicate a solo trip to Germany.
The 81-year-old is now making up for this shortly before his departure from the White House. Biden leaves office in January. He dropped out of the race for a second term in office in July under pressure from his party. Numerous party colleagues had publicly expressed doubts about his mental and physical fitness.
The US presidential election is less than three weeks away, on November 5. Instead of Biden, his deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris, is running for the Democrats - and former President Donald Trump for the Republicans. It is shaping up to be a neck-and-neck race between the two.
