The British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, today paid tribute to George Bush’s leadership in the Middle East, saying there was a real prospect of peace in the region.
Speaking in Brussels after breakfast talks with the United States president, who is on the second day of a three-nation trip to Europe, Blair said there was a ”renewed sense of vigour and optimism”.
Both leaders emphasised the importance of transatlantic ties after the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused the most acrimonious transatlantic rift in a generation. Blair said there was now a chance for a stable, prosperous and democratic Iraq and a ”real solid basis now for going forward in a unified way”.
At the beginning of his trip on Monday, Bush made a speech in Brussels in which he reached out to Europe over the Middle East, climate change and the common values that bind the two continents. He declared that the US stands ”proudly” in the tradition of the Magna Carta and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
On Tuesday, Blair praised the president’s speech, describing it as setting out a ”very clear way forward for us now, whatever the differences in the international community there have been over the last couple of years”.
Bush said: ”As I said in my speech yesterday, a strong Europe is very important for the United States, and I really meant that. The prime minister is one of the strong leaders in Europe.”
The US president won applause from an invited audience during his speech at the 19th century Concert Noble Hall in Brussels on Monday when he said: ”When Europe and America stand together, no problem can stand against us.”
On Monday night, Bush had dinner with his French counterpart, Jacques Chirac, who opposed the war in Iraq. Around 4 000 people protested outside the meeting, with the demonstrators coming from a coalition of 88 environmental, human rights, peace and other groups opposed to Bush’s policies.
”I’m looking for a good cowboy,” Bush joked when a French reporter asked whether relations had improved to the point where Chirac might receive an invitation to the president’s Texas ranch.
Chirac said US-French relations had been excellent for 200 years, and that the Iraq war had not changed that. However, despite the cordial meeting, Bush told Chirac that the US adamantly opposed Europe’s plans to lift its 15-year arms embargo against China — an issue expected to come up at further talks on Tuesday.
The arms ban was imposed shortly after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre by government forces against pro-democracy activists. White House officials said that, despite improved trade and other relations between the west and China since then, there had been little real progress in human rights in the country. Bush will hold a meeting with the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, in Mainz, Germany, on Wednesday night. Schröder recently suggested that Nato was no longer the primary forum for transatlantic dialogue, but the president said Nato was ”a vital relationship to the United States and Europe”.
Later on Tuesday, Bush was due to meet the Ukrainian President, Viktor Yushchenko, prior to a Nato/Ukraine summit at Nato’s European headquarters. He will then visit the EU headquarters for the first time.
He will travel to Slovakia to meet the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, on Thursday, and on Monday had some critical words for the Russian leader, suggesting that he was backsliding on democracy.
”I’ve got a good relationship with Vladimir. I intend to keep it that way,” Bush said. ”But, as well, I intend to remind him that if his interests lie West, that [the United States and its allies] share values, and those values are important.”
He suggested US support for Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organisation could be influenced by the extent to which Russia commited itself to ”open markets and liberal economies”.
Previewing two other issues on today’s agenda, Bush on Monday told Syria to get out of Lebanon and demanded that Iran stop its suspected nuclear weapons programme. However, he seemed to indicate the US was not actively considering a military intervention, saying: ”Iran is … different from Iraq. We’re in the early stages of diplomacy.”
Dozens of world leaders were in Brussels for today’s meetings. Some European officials had complained that Mr Bush did not listen to them during his first term, and they wanted to be there to see whether he had changed. – Guardian Unlimited Â