The United States are back and Europe stands ready to reconnect with an old and trusted partner to breathe new life in our cherished alliance.

Welcome to EU Confidential. I'm Limoum-Taz, Politico's correspondent in France, and I'm stepping in for Andrew Gray, who is off this week on a well-deserved break. And as you just heard from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen... This new dawn in America is the moment we've been waiting for so long.

Wanderlyion made those remarks in the European Parliament just hours before Joe Biden

was sworn in as president of the United States on Wednesday.

Biden's inauguration may have taken place in America, but Europe and the world were watching.

So here's my message of those beyond our borders.

America has been tested and we've come out stronger for it.

We will repair our alliances and engage with the world once again. Not to meet yesterday's challenges,

but today's and tomorrow's challenges. We'll bring you reaction from around Europe and debate what major issues Europe and the

U.S. will still have to hash out over the coming years. And later in this episode, our own

Matt Karnitschnik spoke with our special guest, Daniel Benjamin. He's president of the American

Academy in Berlin, a foreign policy expert and former U.S. ambassador at large, and he shares his insights into the new Biden administration and what Europe can expect from the new U.S. president and his team.

But first, let's get to our podcast panel.

Joining me this week is Matt Karnitschnik in Berlin. Hi, Matt. Hello. And David Herschon

all the way from Brussels. Hi, David. Hi there. So all three of us, I think, have sort of spent all day

watching this inauguration. We're recording this on Wednesday evening. What are the first European reactions to

what we saw today that sort of spring to your minds? David? Well, the European Commission,

I guess it can tweet on its own. The entire commission declared that the United States is back.

Whether the United States is great again or not remains to be seen, but clearly

there is a lot of relief, some jubilation even in EU quarters, some folks happier than others.

Also already some early indications of competition, the Commission President Ursula von der Leyen,

saying that in fact the EU needs to step up

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