After the hurricane

Biden lands in Berlin for slimmed-down visit

US President Joe Biden disembarked from his Air Force One in Berlin late on Thursday evening.(Bild: APA/AP)

Hurricane Milton threw a spanner in the works the previous week, but on Thursday US President Joe Biden was still able to fly to Germany for his very first bilateral visit during his time in office.

However, it was a slimmed-down version of a state visit. On Friday morning, he will first be received with military honors at Bellevue Palace by Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and then receive the "Special Level of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany" - the highest award that Germany has to bestow. Of the 14 US presidents who have ruled since the Federal Republic of Germany was founded, only George Bush senior has ever been honored with this award. 

US President Joe Biden is making up for his trip to Germany.(Bild: APA/AP)

A meeting with Scholz is then planned at the Chancellery, where French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are also expected. This will bring together the heads of state and government of the four most powerful NATO partners and Ukraine's most important allies. The main topics of discussion are likely to be the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Hurricane also prevented Ukraine summit
Biden had originally wanted to hold a major international conference with various heads of state and government during his visit to Germany at Ramstein Air Base in Rhineland-Palatinate to discuss further support for Ukraine. This will now not happen. The White House has announced that the Ukraine summit will be held in November via video conference.

This is Biden's first bilateral visit to Germany in his almost four-year term of office. Although the US President attended the G7 summit in Elmau in 2022 and made refueling stops with his government plane at the American military base in Ramstein on another occasion, he did not dedicate a solo trip to Germany.