World leaders, with outlook uncertain, praise Biden but speak carefully

Berlin: Some were valedictory, praising a US president’s legacy. Others lauded the courage they said it took to walk away from power. But a few world leaders struck another note over President Joe Biden’s decision not to seek reelection: trepidation.

“I am keeping my fingers crossed for the USA that a good president emerges from the democratic competition of two strong and equal candidates,” said the prime minister of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala.

With its outsize effect on governments, US presidential politics is closely watched around the world. As if the prospect of a Donald Trump redux presidency had not preoccupied foreign leaders enough, there was another urgent question of recent weeks: Would Biden stay in the race?

On Sunday, he gave his answer, and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, a political figure who, unlike Biden, lacks a long history of involvement in US foreign diplomacy.

In Germany, where Trump’s antipathy toward the NATO alliance and somewhat impenetrable stance on the Russian invasion of Ukraine have raised anxiety, Chancellor Olaf Scholz pointed toward Biden’s starkly different approach from Trump’s isolationist bent.

“Thanks to him, trans-Atlantic cooperation is close, NATO is strong and the USA is a good and reliable partner for us,” Scholz said.

In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised Biden for “making the world safer, and democracy and freedom stronger” throughout his career, including by deciding not to run.

“I know that you were guided by the same principles when announcing your latest decision — perhaps the most difficult one in your life,” he said.

Foreign leaders did not wade directly into the morass now facing the Democratic Party, veiling any concerns they had after the bombshell announcement and opting instead for congratulations and statements of empathy for an 81-year-old leader who reached the pinnacle of power only to find it nearing an end earlier than he had hoped.

Keir Starmer, the newly installed British prime minister, said he respected the decision. “I know that, as he has done throughout his remarkable career, President Biden will have made his decision based on what he believes is in the best interests of the American people,” he said.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called it “a great gesture from a great president,” and Baiba Braze, foreign minister of Latvia, offered her “highest respect” for “this difficult decision.”