Washington still expects Germany to play a stronger role

The details of this visit were fine-tuned to the last. If Angela Merkel meets Joe Biden on Thursday, it will be the fourth US President to receive the Chancellor in the White House. But Biden will be the last. At the end of her 16-year term in office, this trip to the USA serves a double purpose: to say goodbye and to start over.

Farewell to a Chancellor who has experienced, helped shape and, yes: endured, all the ups and downs of the transatlantic relationship in recent years. Her first visit in 2006 was intended to achieve one thing above all else – to relax the relationship that was strained by the Iraq war.

A rare Deutsche Welle interview with George W. Bush speaks for it that she succeeded. The ex-president, whose reputation in Germany was very poor for a long time, speaks of the “dear Angela” who brought “class and dignity” to her office, and that she could make very tough decisions. Merkel is “a compassionate leader, a woman who is not afraid to lead”.

Washington’s hope was already in 2006 that this Chancellor would become the central point of contact in a complicated Europe. Germany should finally take on leadership responsibility.

It’s not an emotional farewell tour, but a working visit

15 years later, this wish, expressed again and again under Barack Obama, has not yet been fulfilled. The fact that Merkel is the first European head of government in the Biden-White House is not only a sign of respect. In friendly sentences like those of Foreign Minister Antony Blinken – “The USA has no better friend than Germany” – these expectations are again revealed.

The fact that the trip was declared a working visit shows that it is not about an emotional farewell tour, at least not primarily. Yes, Merkel received another honorary doctorate, and yes, she and husband Joachim Sauer were invited to dinner at the Bidens’.

But after four years of Donald Trump, the problems that the new man wants to tackle in the White House are pressing – also with Germany’s help. For example, Biden’s spokeswoman Jen Psaki announced a “future-oriented visit”, during which the discussion will focus less on the old days than on difficult topics such as Nord Stream 2, the fight against climate change and the pandemic, as well as the relationship with China and Russia.

At the same time, the US government wants to find out more about who could succeed Merkel and what that means for relations. Before her departure, the Chancellor referred to the reliability of her potential successors. That alone is not enough to calm Washington down.

A few weeks ago speculations about a possible Green Chancellor were followed with curiosity – after all, Biden classified climate protection as a central topic of foreign policy. But concerns still prevail that Merkel’s departure will leave a vacuum that could make the longed-for restart difficult.

The reputation of the Chancellor, who at times was even celebrated as the true leader of the West, as a moral alternative to Trump, is great, even if Washington continues to insist on more German leadership responsibility. Whenever Biden is received as the next visitor from Berlin: The expectations that arise from it are enormous.