GEORGE W. BUSH will become the first US President to visit the main institutions of the European Union in Brussels next week.
On his European trip, the culmination of America’s carefully choreographed post-Iraq charm offensive, Mr Bush will hold private meetings with the most outspoken critics of his foreign policy, including Jacques Chirac of France, Gerhard Schröder of Germany and Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The trip, his first outside North America since his inauguration, is seen by European diplomats as evidence that the EU is now the main port of call for the US leader, rather than the member states that make it up. They see the visit of the world’s most powerful man as a sign of the coming of age of the Union’s common security and foreign policy, which will be considerably strengthened by the European Constitution.
The groundwork for the trip, which continues to Germany and Slovakia, was prepared by Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, who went out of her way to charm European leaders on her tour last week.
James Elles, a Conservative MEP who has been promoting better transatlantic relations, said: “What it means is that whatever internal problems Europe has, the US is looking for someone to share the burden of running the global system, and Europe’s its best bet.”
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President Bush will be the first US president to attend the European Council where he will hold a 90-minute meeting with the heads of government of all 25 EU members, including Tony Blair, in the imposing pink marble Justus Lipsius building. He will then cross the road to the Berlaymont headquarters of the European Commission, the Union’s executive, where he will meet Jose Manuel Barroso, the Commission President, before having dinner with Senhor Barroso, Jean-Claude Junker, the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, and Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign and security policy chief.
US officials are so worried about a bomb in the metro line that runs under the building that they have demanded the line be closed during the President’s visit. The high point of the peace-making will be on Monday night, when President Bush has invited Jacques Chirac, the French President, for a private dinner in Brussels.
France has been the focus of anger for the US Government since President Chirac pledged to veto any US military action against Iraq in the United Nations Security Council, and then openly called for a “multipolar world” to balance the US hyper-power.
The fact that Mr Bush has invited M Chirac is being seen as a gesture of reconciliation by the White House. “I wish I could be a fly on the wall at that dinner,” said one diplomat.