EU welcomes a ‘friend’ in the White House, says much to do together

The president of the EU executive said on Wednesday she looked forward to having a friend in the White House who could work with Europe on fighting climate change, quashing the COVID-19 pandemic and rebuilding multilateralism.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she hoped incoming U.S. President Joe Biden would join forces with the European Union to impose legal standards and norms on the digital world to rein in hatred, lies and fake news.

"In a few hours Trump will be history, but his supporters are there," von der Leyen told a group of reporters in Brussels ahead of Biden's inauguration to succeed Donald Trump.

"I think we all experienced the effect and sometimes the ... heavy negative impact on our democracy if there's hate out there, there's polarisation, fake news. And I'm sure that we will have an ally to work on that."