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Obama hits back at European snub rumors

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-07 15:39

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama is hitting back at "very wild" rumors that key US allies like France and Germany feel they are getting short shrift from the breakneck pace of his global travel.

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Twice in as many days, Obama had to address whispers in the European press that all was not rosy in his relationships with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

On Saturday, a reporter asked the president whether Europe was low on his priority list, following newspaper reports he turned down a private dinner with the French president after 65th anniversary D-Day commemorations.

"I have a very tough schedule and I would love nothing more than to have a leisurely week in Paris, stroll down the Seine, take my wife out to a nice meal, have a picnic in Luxembourg Gardens," Obama said, pointing out that he was caught up in dealing with the pressing financial crisis at home.

"Those days are over for the moment," Obama said, but promised to spend more time in France when he is an ex-president.

US President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands with France's President Nicolas Sarkozy during a bilateral meeting at the Prefecture of Caen June 6, 2009. [Agencies]

"I think it's very important to understand that good friends don't worry about the symbols and the conventions and the protocols," Obama said.

"I think you guys are reading too much into my schedule."

Obama was certainly enjoying himself on Saturday night in Paris after returning from Normandy, taking his two young daughters on a tour of Notre Dame cathedral and dining in an up-scale restaurant near the Eiffel Tour.

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