EU officials are excited about Kamala Harris

There is a renewed sense of excitement among European officials as US Vice President Kamala Harris is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination ahead of this fall’s all-important election.

The US election is just “more interesting,” a senior EU diplomat, who did not want to be named because of the political sensitivity of the topic, told CNBC on Monday.

“(President Joe) Biden is a wonderful man, with an amazing life, but he is not the future,” added the EU official, who also asked to remain anonymous. He also dismissed former President Donald Trump, 78, adding that “the US needs younger leaders.”

Many in the European Union remember dealings with Trump and his team between 2017 and 2021 when he was president of the United States. At the time, trans-Atlantic relations were at a historic low and the two sides clashed over trade, defense and technology – just a few points of tension.

As a result, EU institutions welcomed Biden’s arrival to the White House, describing it as a new chapter in EU-US relations. Biden’s style and policy priorities are more in line with those in Brussels, including how to handle the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change and the need to support Ukraine.

However, for at least a year now, EU officials have been preparing for Trump’s possible return to the White House. If he wins the election, he expects to deepen his “America First” policy, which could mean less financial support for Ukraine and possibly tariffs on some European goods.

Speaking last week, Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the executive arm of the European Union, said that over the next five years, “our main priority is prosperity and competitiveness.”

“Those who are not competitive will depend. The race is on and I want Europe to shift gears. And this starts with making business easier and faster,” she said.

Trump raised concerns about a potential trade war last week when he said in an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek that he intends to introduce a 10% across-the-board duty on imports of goods from other countries.

Despite feeling that Harris has a better chance against Trump than Biden – who dropped out of the race over the weekend – preparations for a potential Trump victory continue in Europe.

Asked if he was optimistic about Harris’ prospects, a senior diplomat who spoke to CNBC said that, “it’s hard to say, it really depends on how he fills those shoes.”

“There are, of course, doubts, but he has a very different profile compared to Trump, which is good,” he said.

Views on the US election are not homogenous in Europe, but Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, is a vocal supporter of Trump.

However, one thing is clear: Europe has learned to be pragmatic about working with the US

“We do not distinguish between the two candidates,” Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, said on Monday.

“I have met with Kamala Harris, her people, but I also met with friends of Donald Trump, and in my meeting with representatives of the (European) commission, I suggested that we should continue the dialogue with both sides,” she said in Brussels.