Eurotopics.net

All over Europe Biden's election has triggered a great sense of relief. Yet just days after his victory, the EU has imposed punitive tariffs on the US, an indication that the interests on both sides of the Atlantic are likely to continue to diverge. Commentators discuss what the change in the White House will mean for international politics.

The negotiations on the EU's budget and the coronavirus recovery package are due to end today. But according to media reports, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has written a letter to the EU in which he threatens to veto the budget and aid over the EU's planned rule-of-law mechanism. Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki had already said on Friday that he would never agree to the mechanism. Observers doubt that the two leaders will get very far with their resistance.

This is not the first scandal involving Mart Helme, head of the right-wing populist Ekre party and Estonia's interior minister. But now he has apparently gone too far with claims that the US election was rigged and that US president-elect Joe Biden is part of the "deep state". Estonia's press ponders over what comes next for the government.

On Saturday, the election results were finally clear enough for Joe Biden to celebrate victory in his hometown of Wilmington (Delaware). In his victory speech, Biden stressed his intention to be president for all US citizens - including those who did not vote for him. Most of Europe's press voices believe the Democrat has the potential to unite the divided country.