bad weather. After Biden’s bluntness, tensions between the European Union and the United States have complicated urgent files

ANNA MONEYMAKER EPA

In the fight against climate change, “the European Union has laid out a clear roadmap and called on others to do so. Together we drive the coalition to reduce methane,” but “our partners must increase climate finance.”

Ursula von der Leyen is happy to give Joe Biden a small nod at the “Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate” organized by the President of the United States. The US plans to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 50-52 percent by 2030, compared to the 55 percent European target. But the point today is not only that. Climate is at the top of the most urgent files to be identified, also in light of the November COP26 conference in Scotland, which may be a “failure”, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is concerned. But in the world there is no climate of cooperation between the most polluting superpowers. Not even between the EU and the US, especially after yesterday’s rudeness by Biden Su Okos.

The effect of diplomatic shivering aroundYesterday, the United States opened an alliance with Great Britain and Australia with an anti-Chinese goal It is so deep and dangerous that it remains under the radar. If it is agitated, it really risks declaring the end of NATO. The French, saddened by Canberra’s decision to tear up the contract with Paris to produce submarines to reach a deal with Washington and London, are the only ones to be critical of their allies abroad. Angela Merkel “Takes note”. Today, Sergio Mattarella asserts: “Today we need a strong, united and courageous Europe for a more efficient NATO.”

Clear from the unspoken, the climate of European mistrust toward Washington is palpable. The Aukus case comes downstream from another “rudeness”, so to speak.

Last winter, when the union was craving for vaccines against Covid, the United States and Great Britain banned the export of vaccines or the ingredients needed to produce them. Then came other contracts with the US company Pfizer, but only when the US vaccination program was in full swing. In June, the EU-US summit in Brussels, with Biden for the first time in Europe, was celebrated with a historic agreement, however, that smells of truce rather than peace: a 5-year suspension of duties imposed by both sides. The Atlantic on agricultural, food and chemical products after the Airbus and Boeing controversy. It was enough – in words – to revive the Atlantic alliance after the Trump years and to welcome the American friend back to the G7 Club in Cornwall.

That was early summer. Already in July something cracked. Just before the summer holidays, The President of the European Commission has launched an appeal to Washington for the abolition of anti-coronavirus restrictions on European vaccination Who wanted to go on vacation to the United States. The European Union had already done so to welcome American tourists. Nothing, a plea fell on deaf ears, no reciprocity.

But it is the approach of autumn that signals the end of European fantasies.

Biden isn’t Trump, but he acted “like Trump” on Ocus: French Minister Le Drian didn’t go into nitty-gritty, quelling some of the disappointment that had already been brewing since August, when Europeans found themselves facing a pullout from Afghanistan they knew, yes, but Not in the details. Above all, it’s not in the details of the mess it made. Until then they had been living on US guarantees that it was time to leave Afghanistan safely. Only the Germans, at the beginning of 2021, tried to slow down the timing of the operation, worried about the consequences. But the Biden-led United States underscored Trump’s timing: get away from there because the world’s center of gravity is now elsewhere, the Indo-Pacific specifically, in its anti-China strategic function, and then oocos with Great Britain – which will send the ships that will remain. in the region over the next five years — and Australia, which may be joined by Singapore and Japan.

Now, in this crucible of tensions erupted by the intensification of public debates about a new arms race, the European Union, the United States and the other great powers must tackle the climate issue together. Mario Draghi is also upset. “With the Paris Agreement, we are committed to containing global warming to within 1.5 degrees of pre-industrial levels. Most of our countries have renewed this commitment in recent G-20 meetings – says the prime minister in a video message to the forum promoted by Biden – however, We must be honest with ourselves: We are making that promise. If we continue with current policies, we will reach nearly 3 degrees of global warming by the end of the century” with “catastrophic consequences”.

“We must act and we must act now against climate change,” Biden agreed, calling the latest UN climate report a “red code for humanity.” But his presidency certainly does not create a “we are the world” climate, which may be sweet but is certainly effective for decisions that serve the planet. Not to mention China, the world’s leading emitter. If the United States has less ambitious goals than the European Union with plans to cut greenhouse gases, Beijing has not even submitted a new national climate plan. Not even India, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

Cop26 risks being a hole in the water, in a world that seems to grapple. In this bad climate, who knows what will end the negotiations between the European Union and Washington that must reach by the end of the year an agreement to eliminate the tariffs on steel and aluminum decided by Trump.