Menendez and the day after in the US Congress
There are three points worth making with regard to Robert (Bob) Menendez’s departure as chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
First, that a friend in need is a friend indeed. Even though the situation he is in seems anything but simple, the senator – who in the Western legal system is innocent until proven otherwise and insists that he will be vindicated – needs the support of the Greek-American community where and as the circumstances allow it. After all, he remains a member of the Senate.
Secondly, the Greek-American community has access to many important legislators. In the Senate the person that comes to mind is Chris Van Hollen, while in the House of Representatives, apart from the Greek Americans John Sarbanes, Gus Bilirakis, Chris Pappas, Dina Titus and Nicole Malliotakis, there are many who are friends of Greece. Some even occupy very powerful positions, like Gregory Meeks, who until late January was chair and is now ranking member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and who visited Greece last year.
The third point is that Greece’s consistent – and mostly bipartisan – foreign policy over more than a decade has made it the most steady and reliable ally the United States has in the volatile regions of the Balkans and the East Mediterranean. It has also strengthened its image in Congress, beyond which person occupies what office or whose party prevails at a certain point in time.
That does not mean Turkey is not also respected. The view among the State Department bureaucracy and many members of Congress continues to be that Turkey needs to remain tethered to the West no matter its poor attitude on several issues.
As far as the more specific consequences of Menendez’s departure from the Foreign Affairs Committee – obviously an adverse development for Greece – the Greek-American community also has close ties with his replacement, Senator Ben Cardin. Even though his term in this office will not be for long as he’s not seeking re-election in 2024, over the next 16 months Cardin will be responsible for managing the issue of the sale and upgrade of F-16s to Turkey.
The new head of the committee is not opposed to such a deal, but he does want strings attached to it: first and foremost the approval by the Turkish National Assembly of Sweden’s NATO accession but, as Cardin said, there are “other issues” too, implying improvements to Turkey’s human rights record and an end to threats and provocations against Greece.
Robert Mendendez’s stalwart and effective stance will be missed. However, the combination of methodical work on the part of Greek diplomacy in Washington, the effective presence of certain – not all – Greek-American advocacy groups, and the right moves by Greece on its regional geopolitical chessboard, will serve as an important counterweight in offsetting whatever negative consequences this change may bring in Congress and other decision-making centers in Washington.
