Spanish leader to visit US amid summit flap
Melissa EddyPresident Barack Obama's decision not to participate in an annual summit with European Union leaders is feeding doubts about whether Washington views Europe as a strong player on the international stage.
The president's decision was announced days before Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who was to host the summit in Madrid, arrives Wednesday on a two-day visit to Washington. Zapatero, whose nation now holds the EU's rotating presidency, was not scheduled to meet with Obama but may have a chance to speak with him at Thursday's annual National Prayer Breakfast, where the Spanish prime minister was to give a Bible reading.
Obama enjoyed overwhelming support in Europe when he took office a year ago, due in part to the deep-rooted hostility Europeans harbored against his predecessor, George W. Bush. After failing to deliver on his promise to close the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, or to pass solid legislation to fight climate change, along with his decision to scrap a missile defense project planned for the Czech Republic and Poland, Europeans have begun to question whether they are a priority for the U.S. administration.
A Spanish official close to Zapatero, Jose Antonio Alonso, expressed disappointment at the announcement, made Monday by a State Department deputy who was briefing reporters. The way the message went out was an added insult as Madrid had been under the impression until then that Obama was to attend the Madrid meeting — and expressed hope that the meeting could be rescheduled.
Yet Obama's decision may have more to do with political problems at home than international considerations. The president has shifted his attention away from foreign affairs in general and toward domestic issues that resonate with voters, such as creating jobs and lowering the budget deficit.
In his State of the Union speech last week, Obama barely discussed international issues, even though the United States is fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and is worried about nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea.
European media cast the rejection as a snub.
"Obama disappoints Europeans," read the headline from Berlin's Tagesspiegel daily, while Le Figaro in Paris called it "A new bout of low spirits for the Old Continent."
Adding to the sting was that the summit was to have been the first since the union's 27 member states passed legislation creating the posts of a president and a foreign policy chief, aimed at making it a strong international player.
Some analysts viewed the imbroglio as a wake-up call to the EU, noting that the bloc was paying for having chosen two little known international players, Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as president and foreign policy chief, respectively.
"Europe has to read this (Obama's) decision with realism," said Florentino Portero, a history professor at Spain's National Open University. "If the Europeans are not going to take foreign policy seriously, why should the U.S. take them seriously?"
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters Tuesday the changes to the EU's leadership were part of the problem, indicating there was a lack of clarity on both sides as to where and how the annual summits would be held.
"We are working through this, just as Europeans themselves are working through this," Crowley said.
The confusion over the summit reflects a long-standing frustration that the United States has had with the EU: Although it is a valuable partner, the organization remains too hybrid and lacks competency to make tough decisions.
"The very fact that the summit is taking place in Spain, after the establishment of a more permanent presidency and a high representative, is indicative of the fact that the EU is still in institutional limbo," said Charles A. Kupchan, senior fellow for Europe studies with the Council on Foreign Relations.
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Associated Press writer Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.