Administration of Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 2021

June 15, 2021

Well, thank you. Thank you both very much. It's been one of the great pleasures getting to know you both, you know, personally and just in terms of our official positions. And we were at the Gâ7, and again todayâI apologize I kept my colleagues in the closed meeting.

But I want toâyou know, this isâI haven't been back to Brussels and the EU since 2017, and since theâback then, also the first summit back in 2014. Anyway, but I brought the A-team with me today. And you know, I've said, both publicly and privately, that America is back, and this is why we're here in full force.

I'm happy to have with me today the members of my Cabinet: Secretary of State Antony Blinkenâhe suffers from the problem of having worked with me for yearsâand also Trade Representative, Ambassador Katherine Tai, who has made some real progress already; and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, who was a first-rate Governor and one of the brightest people that we've worked with and agreed to come on as our Secretary of Commerce.

And one of the things that you and I were talking aboutâ and will come as no shock to either of you: Europe is our natural partner, and the reason is, we're committed to the same democratic norms and institutions and areâand they are increasingly under attack.

And weâI've said before, and I apologize for repeatingâoh, I didn't mention Jake Sullivanâ[*inaudible*]âwho is my National Security Adviser. I'm leaving out a lot of people here. I apologize. I'm going to get in trouble. But anyway, we'll get back to that in a minute.

But weâyou know, there's a lot that is happening. I used to alwaysâmy friends would kid me in the United States Senate, because I served there, for always quoting Irish poets. You think I quoted Irish poets because I'm Irish. That's not the reason. I quote them because they're the best poets in the world; that's why. [*Laughter*]

But all kidding aside, there is a stanza from a poem from an Irish poet, who we just lost. He said: "All is changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty has been born." I think all has changed in the last 10, 12 years, and it's not because of any one person.

I think we're in the midst of terrible beauty having been bornâa great shift in technology, a great shift in the development of the worldâand it's causing great anxiety in each our countries and uncertainty among many of our colleagues of what's going to be their place in the world. Are they going to be replaced by a new technology? Are they going to no longer have a job? And what are they going to do?

And that comes along at the same time that that also generatesâwhen uncertainty is generated politically like that, by individuals, it also generates some folks who are less thanâ how can I say it?âsome of them are like charlatans, trying to take advantage of those concerns. And we see it in Europe. We see it in the United States. We've seen it around the world. And it's phony populism.

So it seems to me that the best answer to deal with these changes is thatâto have a circumstance where our economies grow and they grow together and they grow still based on the value set that united us in the first place. And I think we do share just the same basic values of human dignity and human rights as I'veâmy colleagues have.

I'll be very colloquial with you: My dad had a transition where, in the city we lived in, coal was dying; it was no longer relevant. You know, he was not aâmy great-grandfather was a coal miner; he was a mining engineer. But whenâin northeastern Pennsylvania, when coal died, my dad was a salesperson, and the economy collapsed. And we moved to another part where there were jobs, in southernâintoâdown in Delaware, a veryâjust across the Pennsylvania border.

And my familyâmy siblings and I would hear him often use the following expression. He said: "Joe, a job is about a lot more than a paycheck. It's about your dignity. It's about respect. It's about your place in the community. It's about being able to look at your child in the eye and say 'Honey, it's going to be okay' and mean it." I think we sometimes forget that. It's about the dignity of the worker and them being able to hold their head high.

And so I think we have an enormous opportunity, if we think in terms of these changesâ particularly in terms of global warmingâif we think of them in terms of jobs. The kind of jobs that we're going to have to create to preserve the environment are jobs that can pay well, that are going to beâuse technologies that working class, blue-collar workers, as we say in the States, will be able to make more money, be able to do well. Andâbut we have to, all of us, accommodate those changes and provide for them.

And so I think we have a lot to deal with, from COVIDâ19 to whether or not we're in a position that we can generate the kind of strengthening transatlantic trade and technological cooperation. They're, sort of, a different set of priorities with the same objective: How do likeminded countries, sharing the same values, work together to improve the living standard for not only our people, but for the rest of the world? And I think we have the capacity to do that, and it's going to take an awful lot of hard work and determination.

And I'll conclude by saying: One of the reasons I'm optimistic is because of our younger generation, in Europe as well as the United States. The young generationâthis oneâis the best educated in American history. It is also the least prejudiced, the most open, and the most committed.

And I think that we have reason to believe that if we provide the policies that are consistent, that provide for the kind of growth and opportunity for themâand education plays a gigantic part of thatâI think weâI think the future is very, very bright. I think we have an opportunity to do some, really, very good things.

And with that, I shouldâas my mother would say, I should "hush up" and let this discussion move forward.

NOTE: The President spoke at 1:13 p.m. in the Europa Building. In his remarks, he referred to President Charles Yvon Michel of the European Council; and President Ursula von der Leyen of the European Commission, who introduced President Biden.

Categories: Addresses and Remarks : U.S.-European Union summit, plenary session in Brussels, Belgium.

Locations: Brussels, Belgium.

Names: Blinken, Antony J.; Michel, Charles Yvon; Raimondo, Gina M.; Sullivan, Jacob J.; Tai, Katherine C.; von der Leyen, Ursula.

Subjects: Belgium : President Biden's visit; Commerce, Department of : Secretary; Commerce, international : Group of Seven (Gâ7) nations; Coronavirus pandemic, international cooperation efforts; Environment : Climate change; Europe : European Union :: European Commission President; Europe : European Union :: European Council; Europe : European Union :: U.S.- European summit in Brussels, Belgium; Foreign policy, U.S. : Civil and human rights, promotion

efforts; Foreign policy, U.S. : Democratization; Foreign policy, U.S. : Diplomatic efforts, expansion; State, Department of : Secretary; Trade Representative, Office of the U.S.; White House Office : Assistants to the President :: National Security Adviser.

DCPD Number: DCPD202100507.