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Bush harbors no bitterness toward Chirac
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-20 11:50
President Bush says he has no bitterness toward French President Jacques
Chirac after their tussle over Iraq, but he is taking issue with a Chirac notion
that a united Europe would serve as a counterbalance to the United States.
In run-up to his trip to Europe, Bush underscored in media interviews with
European journalists his second-term drive to foster improved trans-Atlantic
relations and work on common problems like Iraqi reconstruction, Iran, Syria and
the Middle East peace process.
"I know we had a difference of opinion," Bush said of U.S.-European strains
over the Iraq war. "And it was a big difference of opinion on Iraq. But now is
the time for us to set aside that difference and to move forward in areas where
we can work together."
Bush did not shy away from some differences with Europe, but he did seem to
strike a less confrontational tone than he has in the past.
"I don't feel bitter, personally," Bush said of Chirac, who was the chief
Iraq war opponent in Europe. Bush and Chirac will have a working dinner in
Brussels.
Bush questioned the Chirac-advocated idea of the need for a "multipolar
world," diplomatic code language for a united Europe balancing out the United
States.
"Some have said, 'Well, we must have a unified Europe to balance America.'
Why, when in fact we share values and goals? ... Why don't we view this as a
moment where we can move forward in a concerted fashion to achieve those goals?"
Bush said in his weekly radio address that America and Europe had much in
common as "pillars of the free world."
"We do not accept a false caricature that divides the Western world between
an idealistic United States and a cynical Europe," he said. In the media
interviews, Bush did, however, take exception to German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder's recent comment that NATO was no longer "the primary venue" for
trans-Atlantic dialogue. Schroeder called for outside experts to suggest how the
alliance could be more relevant in the post-Cold War world.
"I think NATO is vital," Bush said. "And I think it's a vital relationship
and one that we'll work to keep strong."
As for Russian President Vladimir Putin, Bush said he will ask him to explain
decisions that have raised concerns he is backsliding on democracy and
centralizing power.
Bush, who will meet with Putin in Bratislava, Slovakia on Thursday, said his
"good relationship" with the Russian leader would "give me a chance to say in
private -- ask him why he's been making some of the decisions he's been making."
"He's done some things that has concerned people," Bush told Slovak state
television.
Bush, in the radio address, also discussed concerns he would raise with
European Union leaders over trade barriers on farm goods.
"I will make clear that one of my top priorities is to reduce the remaining
European barriers to U.S. agricultural goods," he said.
International farm subsidies are a central point of contention in the Doha
round talks of the World Trade Organization. The talks, named after the Qatari
city where they were launched in 2001, are running well behind schedule.
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