European leaders react with caution as U.S. election scenario unfolds
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European politicians have cautioned patience after Donald Trump falsely claimed victory in the US election in the early hours of Wednesday morning, warning that a drawn-out court battle over the outcome would have disastrous consequences for democracy’s global reputation.
Most government leaders remained silent, waiting for events to unfold, though the foreign minister of Spain, Aráncha González Laya, urged American leaders to wait until all the votes had been counted.
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the German defence minister, said: “This is a very explosive situation. This is a situation that can lead to a constitutional crisis in the US, as experts are rightly saying. And it is something that must cause us great concern.”
The EU foreign affairs chief, Josep Borrell, said: “The American people have spoken. While we wait for the election result, the EU remains ready to continue building a strong transatlantic partnership, based on our shared values and history.”
In Germany, the failure of Joe Biden, a committed pro-European and multilateralist, to secure a resounding win was causing deep dismay.
The Bundestag foreign affairs committee chairman, Norbert Röttgen, admitted the results so far had caught Germany off guard. “We are not prepared for it,” he said.
Peter Altmaier, a close political ally of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said: “I’m afraid that if it is a close result there will be a very, very long discussion. Regardless of who wins, it is bad that the US election campaign was mainly conducted on domestic issues.”
Slovenia’s pro-Trump, far-right prime minister Janez Janša called the result in Trump’s favour and criticised “more delays and facts denying” from the media.
In the UK, Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, called for patience, saying: “We respect the values of democracy, and the checks and balances reflected in the US system, which we’re very confident will produce a result.”
Vladimir Putin’s allies in Russia expressed satisfaction at the results so far, claiming that previous allegations that Trump’s victory in 2016 was due to Russian interference had been disproved.
Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the upper house Federation Council committee of foreign affairs, said :“[Russia] benefits from any certainty in which the losers won’t need to resort to [claims of] foreign interference. It’s time for America to return to the politics of sanity, in which case we will always support it. It is high time.”
