Fresh Start in Transatlantic Coo
The European Union urged re-elected U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday to make a fresh start in transatlantic cooperation, but internal EU differences over ties with Washington refused to die down. ''The EU and its member states look forward to working very closely with President Bush and his new administration to combine efforts, including in multilateral institutions, to promote the rule of law and create a just, democratic and secure world,'' the 25 EU leaders said in a joint statement. But the future of relations with the United States prompted a fresh outbreak of public sparring by European rivals Britain and France at an EU summit in Brussels.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair rubbed salt into wounds opened by the Iraq war by saying that some leaders, whom he did not name, were in ''a state of denial'' about Bush's victory.
In the anti-war camp, President Jacques Chirac said France would not forget its differences with the United States and believed a stronger Europe was the natural response to U.S. foreign policy assertiveness in ''an ever more multipolar world.'' The phrase revived a smouldering debate in Europe over whether a more integrated EU should act as a counterweight to perceived U.S. unilateralism or as a junior partner to Washington in re-ordering the world.
France favours the former and Britain the latter, but many European governments are uncomfortable about being pressed to choose between the two. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who chaired the summit, appealed to Bush to realise in his second term that he needed European help to meet global challenges from fighting terrorism, AIDS and poverty to stabilising the Middle East. ''I really hope that after the election of President Bush ... he will invest in good relations with the European countries. We're looking forward to these close ties with the United States because we have a shared responsibility for worldwide issues,'' he told a news conference.
Some EU leaders and a large majority of the European public had openly sympathised with defeated Democratic challenger John Kerry, who promised to listen more to America's allies and seek broader international cooperation. Blair suggested many Europeans had lost touch with reality. ''I think it's pretty obvious if you read the comments that are made by people around Europe over the past few months, there are some people who have not wanted to come to terms with the changes that have happened,'' he told reporters. ''I'm not going to go and start pointing fingers at people. What I'm really saying is that we've got to move on now. There's a new reality so let's work with that reality,'' Blair said. Bush urged allies on Thursday to put aside their differences over Iraq and work with him in the global war against terrorism. ''Whatever our past disagreements, we share a common enemy,'' he told his first post-election news conference. One long-time European critic, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, reached out to the re-elected Republic president, telephoning him on Friday to offer personal congratulations and talk about future relations.
Several of the leaders who supported Bush in Iraq, including the Danish and Polish leaders, urged him to reach out to the whole of Europe and make more of an effort in his second term to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace.
By The European Union
