With the Soviet threat removed, Europeans are less dependent on the United States, and more inclined to go their own way, than they were from 1940 to 1990. Among earlier stops, Bush will attend a summit of NATO allies and meet with 15 heads of state from the European Union. Bush's European debut will offer him a chance to clarify a host of conflicting signals about his foreign policy. Even before he leaves Washington on Monday, the president will attempt to ease European concerns about his decision in March to abandon a proposed international agreement to combat global warming. Although Bush will reassure Europeans that he is committed to reducing gaseous emissions that contribute to global warming, his administration still is drafting its alternative to the so-called Kyoto agreement.
European leaders are impatient.
It has taken us 10 years to do this. If we start from scratch, we don't know how long we'll get stuck. On other foreign-policy issues troubling European allies, Bush and his advisers have changed course recently. After abandoning negotiations with North Korea on nuclear proliferation and other issues in March, Bush called this week for restarting the talks. A similar hands-off approach to peace efforts in the Middle East ended recently with a decision to send CIA Director George Tenet to the region to help negotiate an end to eight months of violence.