EU sees Obama victory as chance to work together

Officials hope to join forces in "a new deal for a new world."

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Jose Manuel Barros 248.88 (photo credit: AP)
Jose Manuel Barros 248.88
(photo credit: AP)
European Union officials hailed Barack Obama's election victory Wednesday as an opportunity to renew a tenuous trans-Atlantic relationship and join forces in "a new deal for a new world." They invited the incoming US president to address the 27-nation bloc's parliamentary assembly early next year to outline his foreign policy views. The EU is pressing the US to sign on to ambitious goals to slash greenhouse gases, help revive a stalled world trade pact and craft a new financial order by stepping up supervision of the global financial sector. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said she anticipated "closer and more trusting cooperation between the United States and Europe" under Obama's leadership and pledged that her government "is aware of the importance and the value of the trans-Atlantic partnership for our mutual future." Although Merkel's relationship with President George W. Bush is better than that of her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder, Bush is deeply unpopular among the German public. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said Obama's entry into the White House would be a time for a renewed commitment between the EU and the US. Both sides must work together, he said, "to change the current (financial) crisis into a new opportunity." "We need a new deal for a new world," Barroso said in a brief statement. "I sincerely hope that with the leadership of President Obama, the United States of America will join forces with Europe to drive this new deal. For the benefit of our societies, for the benefit of the world." EU Trade Commissioner Catherine Ashton said at a post-election breakfast organized by the US Embassy she would contact Obama soon to "make sure we are working together on opening free trade." Separately, the European Parliament invited Obama to address the assembly "on an early visit to Europe, possibly in April." "Such a speech would allow you to showcase your approach to trans-Atlantic relations and set out your vision of foreign policy for the years ahead," said Hans-Gert Poettering, a German Christian Democrat who is the assembly's president. In a letter he wished Obama success and said the election victory proved once again America's "extraordinary capacity for renewal."