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Biden: US Boosting Force Posture in Europe for Russia Threat

NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
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Biden: US Boosting Force Posture in Europe for Russia Threat

NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)
NATO's Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg (L), and Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez (R), greet US President, Joe Biden, before they pose for a family photo during the first day of the NATO Summit at IFEMA Convention Center, in Madrid, Spain, 29 June 2022. (EPA)

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that the US is enhancing its military presence in Europe for the long haul to bolster regional security after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Madrid at the opening of the alliance’s annual leaders summit, Biden said "NATO is strong and united" and that steps to be taken during the gathering will "further augment our collective strength."

Biden opened his participation in the summit by announcing that the US is establishing a permanent headquarters in Poland, sending two additional F-35 fighter jet squadrons to the UK and will send more air defense and other capabilities to Germany and Italy.

"Today I’m announcing the United States will enhance our force posture in Europe and respond to the changing security environment as well as strengthening our collective security," he said.

Stoltenberg, who earlier Wednesday said the alliance was facing its biggest challenge since World War II, welcomed Biden's announcement.

"This really demonstrates your decisive leadership and strength in the trans-Atlantic bond," Stoltenberg said, thanking Biden for the "unwavering support from you and from the United States to Ukraine."

Biden said the US will permanently station the US Army V Corps forward command in Poland, a move that he said would strengthen US-NATO interoperability across the alliance's eastern flank. The move marks the first permanent basing of US forces on NATO’s eastern edge. Biden added that the US is also stepping up its rotational deployments of troops to the Baltic region.

Biden announced after arriving for the summit on Tuesday that the US would base two additional destroyers at its naval base in Rota, Spain, bringing the total number to six.

The US currently has more than 100,000 servicemembers deployed across Europe, up by about 20,000 since just before Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine began four months ago.

Biden predicted that meetings this week would make for a "history-making summit" as leaders were set to approve a new strategic framework, announce a range of steps to boost their defense spending and capabilities, and clear the way for historically neutral Finland and Sweden to join NATO.

Biden said Putin thought NATO members would splinter after he invaded Ukraine, but got the opposite response instead.

"Putin was looking for the Finland-ization of Europe," Biden said. "You’re gonna get the NATO-ization of Europe. And that’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe."

Turkey, the last remaining holdout to approve the Nordic countries’ accession into NATO, reached an agreement on the eve of the summit late Tuesday to support adding them to the 30-nation alliance.

While the White House said the US was not a direct party to the negotiations, a senior administration official said Biden spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday to encourage him to clear the way for Sweden and Finland to join. The two leaders are set to meet Wednesday afternoon to discuss other issues, the White House said.

Biden will also sit down Wednesday with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who are attending the NATO summit as the alliance looks to strengthen its ties in the Indo-Pacific region and address challenges from China.

The White House said the three leaders would also discuss North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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World

France Has a New Government, Again. Politics and Crushing Debt Complicate Next Steps

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
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France Has a New Government, Again. Politics and Crushing Debt Complicate Next Steps

France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)
France's Prime Minister Francois Bayrou makes an address after observing a minute of silence as part of an official day of mourning for the victims of Cyclone Chido which hit the archipelago on the French Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte a week ago, at The Hotel Matignon in Paris on December 23, 2024. (AFP)

France’s president and prime minister managed to form a new government just in time for the holidays. Now comes the hard part.

Crushing debt, intensifying pressure from the nationalist far right, wars in Europe and the Middle East: Challenges abound for President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Francois Bayrou after an already tumultuous 2024.

What's wrong with French finances? The most urgent order of business is passing a 2025 budget. Financial markets, ratings agencies and the European Commission are pushing France to bring down its deficit, to comply with EU rules limiting debt and keep France’s borrowing costs from spiraling. That would threaten the stability and prosperity of all countries that share the euro currency.

France’s debt is currently estimated at a staggering 112% of gross domestic product. It grew further after the government gave aid payments to businesses and workers during COVID-19 lockdowns even as the pandemic depressed growth, and capped household energy prices after Russia invaded Ukraine. The bill is now coming due.

But France’s previous government collapsed this month because Marine Le Pen’s far-right party and left-wing lawmakers opposed 60 billion euros in spending cuts and tax hikes in the original 2025 budget plan. Bayrou and new Finance Minister Eric Lombard are expected to scale back some of those promises, but the calculations are tough.

“The political situation is difficult. The international situation is dangerous, and the economic context is fragile,” Lombard, a low-profile banker who advised a Socialist government in the 1990s, said upon taking office.

“The environmental emergency, the social emergency, developing our businesses — these innumerable challenges require us to treat our endemic illness: the deficit,” he said. “The more we are indebted, the more the debt costs, and the more it suffocates the country.”

How long will this government last? This is France’s fourth government in the past year. No party has a parliamentary majority and the new Cabinet can only survive with the support of lawmakers on the center-right and center-left.

Le Pen — Macron’s fiercest rival — was instrumental in ousting the previous government by joining left-wing forces in a no-confidence vote. Bayrou consulted her when forming the new government and Le Pen remains a powerful force.

That angers left-wing groups, who had expected more influence in the new Cabinet, and who say promised spending cuts will hurt working-class families and small businesses hardest. Left-wing voters, meanwhile, feel betrayed ever since a coalition from the left won the most seats in the summer's snap legislative elections but failed to secure a government.

The possibility of a new no-confidence vote looms, though it's not clear how many parties would support it.

What about Macron? Macron has repeatedly said he will remain president until his term expires in 2027.

But France's constitution and current structure, dating from 1958 and called the Fifth Republic, were designed to ensure stability after a period of turmoil. If this new government collapses within months and the country remains in political paralysis, pressure will mount for Macron to step down and call early elections.

Le Pen's ascendant National Rally is intent on bringing Macron down. But Le Pen faces her own headaches: A March court ruling over alleged illegal party financing could see her barred from running for office.

What else is on the agenda? The National Rally and hard-right Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau want tougher immigration rules. But Bayrou wants to focus on making existing rules work. “There are plenty of (immigration) laws that exist. None is being applied,” he said Monday on broadcaster BFM-TV, to criticism from conservatives.

Military spending is a key issue amid fears about European security and pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump for Europe to spend more on its own defense. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who champions military aid for Ukraine and ramping up weapons production, kept his job and stressed in a statement Tuesday the need to face down “accumulating threats” against France.

More immediately, Macron wants an emergency law in early January to allow sped-up reconstruction of the cyclone-ravaged French territory of Mayotte in the Indian Ocean off Africa. Thousands of people are in emergency shelters and authorities are still counting the dead more than a week after the devastation.

Meanwhile the government in the restive French South Pacific territory of New Caledonia collapsed Tuesday in a wave of resignations by pro-independence figures — another challenge for the new overseas affairs minister, Manuel Valls, and the incoming Cabinet.