´óÏó´«Ã½

This was a tag-on meeting. The European Union's leaders got two hours with the American president before he returned to the United States.

The agenda was less important than the fact of their meeting. Earlier in the year some Europeans felt President Obama had snubbed them by not attending a summit in Madrid.
The White House never saw it that way. The date was never in their diary.

But European feathers had been ruffled. In July the President of the European Commission Jose Manual Barroso had opined that "the transatlantic relationship is not living up to its potential. I think we should do much more together".

So this meeting was intended to show that Europe and the United States were not drifting apart.

President Obama gave an interview to El Pais.There was much talk of the "enduring partnership" of "shared values" and a "common heritage". That mood continued into the moment when President Obama and President Barroso and the president of the European Council shared platforms together at the end of the day.

President Obama said he was "pleased to be here" and then added he was "proud to be here". President Barroso said that he had attended many summits but this one had been "intimate, informal" and marked by a real dialogue. He even threw in some praise for what he called the president's physical resilience, having come on such a long mission to Asia.

There were not any major announcements. President Obama at one point said the summit was "not as exciting as other summits because we basically agree on everything".

The teams discussed sustainable economic growth, climate change and the security of citizens. Together the United States and the EU account for almost half of the world's GDP.

They discussed how to increase trade investment and streamline regulations. They used the language of the recent G20 meeting. They promised to pursue policies that "avoid unsustainable imbalances". The word "sustainable" perhaps understandably was not defined and there was no mention of Germany's current account surplus.

The two sides promised to avoid "competitive devaluations or exchange rate policies that do not reflect underlying economic fundamentals".

There is to be a new working party on cyber security which will report back in a year.

On foreign policy the priority was addressing Iran's nuclear programme. President Obama noted that under Cathy Ashton, the EU 's foreign policy chief, there was a very good chance to engage Iran in direct talks on 5 December.

What was not discussed publicly was that the US and Europe are heading in different directions on the central economic issue of the day. In America the Federal Reserve is pumping in $600 billion into the US economy. Government spending is being expanded to stimulate a sluggish economy.

In Europe it is the age of austerity, with country after country reducing public spending in an attempt to reduce deficits. This is being done even though growth remains anaemic.
The policy is a gamble. It is questionable whether weak economies can pare down their debts while demand is reduced by cuts in the public sector.

On key issues like Afghanistan there was more agreement than anticipated and the American President secured backing from Nato to build a missile shield over Europe.
Many of the details - like how it will be financed - have yet to be agreed, but the decision to proceed was an important decision that only a short while back would have been very difficult to achieve.

But this brief summit was an affirmation of an old partnership where differences were side-stepped and much made of the ties that bind.

• Bookmark with:
• |
• |
• |
• |
• - What's this?