Bush underlines support for a strong EU

Despite political and economic fights that have brought to the brink of crisis, the European Union is not hobbled, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said yesterday, speaking as the current president of the organisation.

Appearing after a meeting with US President George Bush, Juncker sought to reaffirm that the US and the EU were linked in a strategic partnership aimed at promoting the spread of freedom and democracy.

“We made clear in our frank and open talks with the president that the EU is not at its knees,” he said. “The Europeans are playing their role in the international scene.”

As an example, both Juncker and Bush cited a conference that the Americans and the Europeans are holding this week in Brussels, Belgium, on promoting development in Iraq.

“There have been past differences over Iraq,” Bush said. ”But as we move forward there is a need for the world to work together so that Iraq as a democracy will succeed.”

Bush said the US “continues to support a strong European Union as a partner in spreading freedom and democracy and security and prosperity throughout the world”.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, also said Europe was not paralysed because of political and economic differences among its members.

“Some think the EU is blocked and cannot work,” he said at a news conference after taking part in talks with Bush at the White House. “The EU is in business and taking decisions. We have a problem and I am not underestimating the difficulties. It will take time to resolve them.”

He said he did not get a sense from the talks that the Americans secretly welcomed disarray in Europe.

“The US administration understands that it is in the US interest to have a strong Europe,” he said.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the meeting with the Europeans was “an opportunity to continue to discuss how we can work closely together to support the spread of freedom and democracy and strengthen our security and extend prosperity throughout the world”.

He said the US continues to support a strong Europe as a partner in those efforts.

EU officials say the trans-Atlantic relationship is so vast- and crucial to global peace- that it must not be held hostage to the future of the constitution, which among other things, provides for new voting rules to accelerate decision-making in the EU.