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US-EU relationship
From the Financial Times
| quote: | Bush makes headway on transatlantic breach
George W Bush in EuropeSix months after President George W. Bush set out to repair the transatlantic breach that arose in his first term, Monday's summit in Washington with European leaders gave the strongest sign yet that he has succeeded.
José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, said following his meeting with Mr Bush: “It was a very relaxed, informal meeting with a sincere and frank exchange of views. That's the spirit I like to see between the US and Europe, the spirit of openness.”
There was no sign of disagreement over any of the major issues on the agenda, including Iraq, Iran, and the Middle East peace process. And for the first time since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the mundane details of managing the huge trans-atlantic economic relationship from regulatory co-operation to trade were again the subject of high-level discussion.
The rapprochement comes after months of determined efforts by Washington. Mr Bush set reconciliation with Europe as his top foreign policy priority after hisre-election in November and became the first US president to visit the European Commission and Council.
Simon Serfaty, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said after the Iraq campaign, which divided Europe into supporters and opponents of the US ‘coalition of the willing', “Bush went out of his way to show that he didn't just want to deal with European states one at a time but with the union as a whole”.
A senior state department official said the US was “clearly and unambiguously” offering partnership with Europe. “Thank goodness we are well past the divisive differences over Iraq. Those are about the past,” he said, pointing to “the spectacular results” in working together on Ukraine and the close co-operation with France over Lebanon that resulted in a UN Security Council resolution and the withdrawal of Syrian forces.
Mr Barroso was similarly conciliatory. “The truth is alone the US cannot go ahead with the programmes they have and neither can the EU,” he said. “There are some differences, it's true, but basically we share the same values.”
On Iraq, he said, “what is happening in Europe is a great will to overcome the differences of the past. We are all trying to work together and it is in the interests of the Iraqi people and of Europe to have a stable and democratic Iraq, so it is not useful to comment on past differences.”
While the tone of the US-European relationship is now the most positive since Mr Bush first took office in 2001 it will be tested greatly in the next several months. Mr Serfaty says that while Mr Bush has reached out to Europe, “he is still waiting for the Europeans to deliver”, particularly by playing a greater non-military role in Iraq that might help the US make gains against the insurgency.
The big US fear is that Europe's internal crises will make it an unreliable partner just when the US badly needs European help.
Mr Bush made it clearthat he wants “a strong European Union as a partner in spreading freedom and democracy and security and prosperity”.
“At the very moment Bush is re-engaging the EU,” Mr Serfaty said, “the EU might be missing in action.” |
It seems to me that this is yet another example of EU-leaders being drastically unaware of the movements in the populations they represent. When I speak to Danes, they definately feel no bigger love for Bush today than they did a year ago. And they have no lust for taking on a bigger role in the cleaning up of Iraq.
But maybe we're especially good at remembering offence. How do you feel - are relations better today than, say, six months ago? And if so, why did this come about?
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