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Bush to attend EU-US summit in Slovenia: White House
2008-05-20
US President George W. Bush will attend an EU-US summit in Slovenia in June as part of a European tour including stops in Germany, Italy, the Vatican, France and Britain, the White House announced Tuesday. Bush will begin the June 9-16 trip "by participating in the annual US-European Union summit in Slovenia," White House Press Secretary Dana Perino told reporters. Slovenia, the first former communist state to hold the EU's six-month rotating presidency, said Monday that the summit will focus on political and regional issues, global security as well as bilateral partnership. Perino said Bush was traveling to Europe in part "to strengthen the trans-Atlantic partnership and to celebrate the enduring friendship between our nations based on shared democratic values," Perino said. "He'll also have a chance to visit with some new friends and some old friends," she said, noting in particular Silvio Berlusconi, who has begun a third stint as Italy's prime minister. Bush was also likely to press forward with ongoing cooperation on economic, trade and counter-terrorism issues, and to do more work on a multilateral approach to dealing with Iran, Perino added. The June summit will be Bush's second visit to Slovenia after a 2001 visit where he officially met with then Russian president Vladimir Putin for the first time. During the trip the president and First Lady Laura Bush were also to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Marshall plan for the reconstruction of Europe as well as the Berlin airlift, which helped ease a major early Cold War crisis during the multinational occupation of Germany after World War II. His planned visit to the Holy See comes just two months after Pope Benedict XVI's first trip to the United States which included a historic visit to the White House and talks there with Bush. Bush is also to hold talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy during his working visit to France, the French presidency said Tuesday. He will be welcomed at the Elysee presidential palace on June 13 and 14, his first visit to Paris since Sarkozy took office a year ago. "This visit will be an opportunity to discuss all the issues of common interest between our two countries," said an Elysee statement. US ties with the EU remain strained on some fronts, including longstanding divisions on Iraq, with several EU states including France and Germany remaining opposed to US policy in Iraq. The EU also recently criticized the Bush administration over its continued sanctions on Myanmar, with the EU's humanitarian aid chief warning Saturday that Washington's decision to extend sanctions against Myanmar's junta would not help millions of vulnerable survivors of the recent cyclone disaster. Bush stressed last week that extending the sanctions "does not inhibit any efforts on the part of the United States to provide humanitarian assistance" to victims of Cyclone Nargis.
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