America is not quite back. ” Joe Biden likes to repeat that America is back, but its ambassadors are still on the way “, Quips” The Economist “. The magazine points out that the pace of diplomatic appointments by the US president is “incredibly slow”.
A long list of vacancies
Five months after taking office, he has still not chosen a representative to be placed in the embassies of most of the capitals of his G7 partners, nor with the European Union, nor even in Beijing, New Delhi, Riyadh, Islamabad, Kiev, Kabul, Seoul… All of them, however, constitute key points for American diplomacy.
This slowness contrasts with the speed with which Joe Biden had resumed dialogue with the allies as with the adversaries of the United States. ” This situation could end up penalizing its foreign policy because an ambassador plays a key role in establishing relations of trust with a government ”, note « The Economist ».
The bad will of the Senate
Two factors explain this situation. On the one hand, the new administration is struggling to fill the key positions supposed to oversee the (sensitive) appointment of ambassadors. Then, these difficulties are increased by the ill will of the Senate, with a Republican majority, which takes its time to validate the rare names submitted by the White House.
Joe Biden’s predecessors had also had to deal with these slowdowns. Despite reform proposals, “ the various agencies and commissions involved have all jealously defended their prerogatives, and the processes are therefore maintained in this laborious rhythm ».
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