Joe Biden extends national emergency beyond March 1
February 21, 2022, 5:44 pm

Joe Biden extends national emergency beyond March 1

US president Joe Biden/Official Facebook page

The Xinhua reported, U.S. President Joe Biden has announced, the U.S. national emergency beginning almost two years ago will be extended beyond March 1 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Biden on Friday in a letter to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the president of the Senate said: "There remains a need to continue this national emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause significant risk to the public health and safety of the nation."

According to the letter posted on the White House website, he noted that more than 900,000 had died from the disease in the country.

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According to data from Johns Hopkins University, the United States has registered more than 78 million COVID-19 cases as of Monday.

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According to the letter, the national emergency, which came into effect on March 1, 2020, would have been automatically terminated unless, within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the U.S. president sent a notice to the U.S. Congress stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date.

Source: xinhua

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Upon arriving to participate in the summit of the European Political Community, which includes around forty heads of state in Budapest, he said, "I look forward to sitting with the elected U.S. president and seeing how we will collectively ensure we meet challenges, including the threats from Russia and North Korea." He also noted that the strengthening of ties between Russia and North Korea poses a threat to the United States as well, according to reports from Agence France-Presse.

Before Trump's victory, Rutte expressed confidence that a united Washington would remain part of the defensive alliance, even if Trump became the 47th president of the United States. In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF last Monday night, he stated that both Republicans and Democrats understand that NATO serves not only the security of Europe but also that of America. He added that both candidates are aware that the security of the United States is closely tied to NATO.

On Wednesday, NATO congratulated Trump on his victory but did not address the Ukrainian issue.

It is noteworthy that the relationship between the elected U.S. president and the defense alliance was not the best during his first term in the White House. Trump criticized NATO member states multiple times and even hinted at withdrawing from the alliance unless they increased their financial contributions.

Additionally, the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war is one of the matters that complicate relations between the two sides, especially since Trump has repeatedly stated that he can end this ongoing conflict, which began in 2022, quickly. He implied that he had a peace plan between Kyiv and Moscow, while his vice president, JD Vance, revealed aspects of that plan, which stipulated Ukraine's commitment not to join NATO, thereby sending reassuring signals to the Russians.

Furthermore, many NATO member states in Europe fear that Trump might halt military aid to Ukraine after he previously criticized the U.S. for pouring funds into supporting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.