Dailies and periodicals” “

The Euro-American summit held in Washington on 25 June offered the main international dailies an opportunity to consider the current state of relations between the two powers, following the war in Iraq and in the light of the continuing tensions in the Middle East. For example, “Bush pushes Europe to cut funds to Hamas”, is the headline of the Herald Tribune (26/6), in which Joel Brinkley notes that, apart from asking the European Union to eliminate all support to the fundamentalist Muslim organisation, “which is responsible for most of the suicide bomb attacks in Israel”, President Bush has asked representatives from our continent to “take up a position against Iran, which is suspected of having a secret nuclear arms programme – an accusation unaccompanied by proof and which the Iranian government denies”. Patrick Jarreau and Laurent Zecchini writing in Le Monde (26/6), speak of a certain “calming” between Europeans and Americans and highlight the fact that the Washington summit “comes at a moment in which the dominant tone, on both sides of the Atlantic, is one of calm. As they argued a lot during the Iraq crisis, American and European leaders now understand one another a little better”. The authors then enter into the details of their analysis: “The economic and commercial – but also diplomatic – interdependence of the Atlantic, as testified by the actions of the Quartet in the Middle East, has kept the partnership between the European Union and the United States alive. But there is more. For European leaders, a period marked by a certain degree of innocence came to an end with the attacks of 11 September 2001, then with the war in Iraq. To Washington’s satisfaction, they have understood that the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of ‘global’ terrorism are not fictions born of American intransigence”. An article by Bruno Frappat ( La Croix, 24/6), bears the title “The third war” and observes that “the war in Iraq continues on two fronts: on the ground, where every day American soldiers fall victim to guerrilla operations” but “the harsher war is that of truth and lies played out in the theatre of public opinion”. Vittorio Parsi, writing in Avvenire (24/6) on the eve of the Washington meeting, defines it as “a particularly significant summit”, because “this time America shows itself willing to treat the EU with the respect due a political-economic partner that is, at the same time, its main economic-commercial rival”. “Do not seek a more comfortable life elsewhere”. A headline in the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of 23/06 echoes the Pope’s call to young Bosnians. The article goes on to discuss John Paul II’s visit to Banja Luka and highlights how it was different from the trip he made to Sarajevo in 1997. “Just a few years ago, a visit here by the supreme head of the Catholic Church would have been unthinkable, but recently relations between the Holy See and Serb Orthodoxy are so much better that there is already talk of a possible papal trip to Belgrade”; and President Marovic, “after having been received in audience by the Pope has spoken of the ‘constant concern’ in preparations for a papal trip to Serbia and Montenegro”. A short article in the same paper 24/06 begins: “The membership operation” and mentions discussions on entry into the EU of certain Balkan countries, that took place at the Porto Carras summit: “The EU is seeking to repeat in the Balkans the same operation that worked for central-eastern Europe: the prospect of entry in return for reforms”. The article adds that “reform in the western Balkans is, nonetheless, to be understood as more than just dismantling the Communist legacy”, so “the binding promises of the EU at the Porto Carras summit refer only to financial aid and not to terms of entry as Belgrade and Zagreb had hoped”. “The destiny that Europe must not elude” is the title of an article by Carlos Nadal in La Vanguardia ( 22/6), in which he insists that “the expansion of the EU, and the Constitution it will adopt, make it necessary to avoid dispersive acts, such as those deriving from the crisis in Iraq”. The author feels that “foreign policy is the EU’s Cinderella”, yet it is precisely in this field that “the Union plays the card of the weakness or strength of its presence in the world, of the capacity it has to contribute to orienting events with or against the model being imposed by the United States”. ———————————————————————————————————– Sir Europa (English) N.ro assoluto : 1207 N.ro relativo : 47 Data pubblicazione : 27/06/2003