Already next week
US President Biden is making a visit to Germany
October 13, 2024, 1:12 p.m
Because of Hurricane Milton, US President Biden is canceling his farewell visit to Germany at short notice. But postponed is not canceled. Biden is scheduled to come to Berlin next week.
US President Joe Biden wants to make up for his visit to Germany, which was canceled due to Hurricane Milton, next week. The “Spiegel” reported that planning for the high-ranking visit to Berlin is already underway behind the scenes at the federal government and security authorities.
In the current calendar, official appointments with Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz are planned for Friday, it said. Biden’s Berlin visit is a kind of farewell visit by the president before the upcoming election at the beginning of November. Originally planned as a formal state visit with an official banquet and other honorary events, the program is now being significantly compressed. Nevertheless, it is still planned for Biden to be awarded the special level of the Grand Cross of the Federal Order of Merit by Steinmeier for his services to German-American friendship.
Biden actually planned to come to Germany for several days. However, the visit was canceled at short notice last week due to Hurricane Milton in order to take over crisis management directly. A summit meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group planned for Saturday at the US air force base in Ramstein also did not take place.
However, the short visit now planned is likely to be about the same political topics, above all the further actions of Ukraine’s Western supporters and the war in the Middle East. In a phone call after the cancellation, Scholz and Biden reaffirmed the continued close cooperation between Germany and the USA. This applies, among other things, to joint “support for the defense of Ukraine against Russian aggression,” said Biden in a statement published in Washington. Relations between the two countries are of “enduring strength”.