Bush takes charm campaign to NATO, EU
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-22 09:31

BRUSSELS - US President Bush takes his drive for a new transatlantic partnership to summits with NATO and the European Union on Tuesday, anxious to draw a line under two years of bitter rifts over Iraq.

Bush holds separate talks in Brussels with the leaders of the 26-nation defense alliance and the 25-member EU in a tightly scripted day meant to showcase common purpose in rebuilding Iraq and Afghanistan, and spreading democracy in the Middle East.

French President Jacques Chirac (L) greets U.S. President George W. Bush in Brussels, February 21, 2005. Bush met with Chirac for a dinner on Monday during his four-day visit to Europe. [Reuters]

"Our alliance has the ability and the duty to tip the balance of history in favor of freedom," Bush declared in a keynote speech on Monday that set a tone of joint endeavor in contrast to the perceived unilateralism of his first term.

No detail of Tuesday's diplomatic marathon has been left to chance.

NATO allies will pledge to extend their peacekeeping mission into western Afghanistan and eventually take over security responsibility for the entire country, and each one will offer some form of support for a mission to train Iraqi army officers.

EU foreign ministers agreed a support package for Baghdad's newly elected authorities on Monday that will include training police and judges and offering help to write a constitution.

On Day One of a fence-mending tour, Bush reached out to the leaders of Iraq war opponents France and Belgium and flattered Europeans with a speech that endorsed a strong, united Europe as a U.S. partner but offered few policy concessions of substance.

He dined and joked with French President Jacques Chirac, his most virulent critic in the run-up to the Iraq invasion, even serving him French fries after months in which angry U.S. congressmen had renamed them "freedom fries."

CHINA GAP NARROWED

On substance, Bush and Chirac appeared to narrow transatlantic differences over EU plans to lift an arms embargo on China.

A senior U.S. official said European assurances that a code of conduct would ensure arms sales to Beijing grew neither in quantity or quality could provide a satisfactory resolution if they were fleshed out.

"So this was a good situation, but I don't want to start talking about compromises because that would be misleading at this point," the official said.

European officials and analysts said Bush's keynote speech struck the right tone, especially his strong commitment to work for Israeli-Palestinian peace, which many Europeans accused him of neglecting in his first four years in office.

"The music is very good and the content is very good. A lot of what he said belongs to what we are saying as well," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana commented.

"The president hit many of the right buttons for a European audience," analyst Fraser Cameron of the European Policy Center said, singling out the priority given to Middle East peace.

FEW PROTEST

In contrast to the vast crowds which rallied across western Europe to protest against the Iraq war, only a few thousand leftist, anti-war and environmental activists turned out in Brussels to demonstrate peacefully against Bush's visit.

Protesters wearing masks of U.S. President George W. Bush pose during a demonstration against U.S. President George W. Bush in Brussels February 21, 2005. Bush is in Brussels to appeal to Europeans to replace disagreements over Iraq with what he called a new era of trans-Atlantic unity with a goal of spreading democracy across the Middle East. [Reuters]

A U.S. official said both the NATO and EU summits were likely to include discussion of Lebanon and Iran but he doubted any joint statements would emerge since the meetings were intended to be "agenda-setting, rather than document-producing."

Both sides denied differences over Iran's nuclear program, but European countries trying to negotiate an end to Tehran's uranium enrichment activities won no hint that Washington might be willing to offer incentives that might help their cause.

Chirac and Bush issued a joint call for a Lebanon "free of foreign domination," ratcheting up pressure on Syria to pull its troops out after last week's killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which critics blamed on Damascus.

U.S. officials said the tone of transatlantic relations within NATO was better now than it has been in a long time.

"In fact, I would say that NATO is more unified today on Iraq, Afghanistan and the other major issues in the alliance than at any time in the last three years. There is a much better tone," said a senior Bush administration official.

Ukraine will be another focus on Tuesday, when NATO leaders welcome President Viktor Yushchenko after helping him overcome a rigged election.

And after spending much of his time with opponents of his Iraq war policy, Bush will have private meetings with two of his key European supporters, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

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