US President Barack Obama will travel to Lisbon in November for two separate summits with EU and Nato leaders, the White House announced yesterday.
The summit of Nato heads of state, expected to focus on the nine-year-old war in Afghanistan and reforming the military alliance, had always been pencilled in for Lisbon on November 19-20.
The European Union made it easier for President Obama, who was accused of snubbing the 27-nation bloc when he pulled out of an earlier summit in May, by scheduling the EU-US meeting in the Portuguese capital immediately afterwards.
Mr Obama is now down to meet EU President Herman Van Rompuy, commission chief José Manuel Barroso, and other EU leaders on November 20 for discussions bound to dwell on the flagging global economy.
The Nato summit “will focus on Nato’s progress in Afghanistan and ways to revitalise the alliance to meet 21st threats and challenges,” a White House statement said.
“The President looks forward to discussing these and other issues with his 27 allied colleagues and Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen.”
An earlier White House statement said the EU-US summit would focus on ways to “affirm our transatlantic agenda, and to advance our cooperation on issues of mutual concern.
“The United States has no stronger partner than Europe in advancing security and prosperity around the world,” it said. “Our economic relationship is vital to global prosperity, and we are committed to cooperating to promote strong and sustained growth in our economies.”
European leaders said in a statement they looked forward to the opportunity “to reaffirm the transatlantic agenda and advance EU-US cooperation on issues of mutual concern”.
The EU statement also noted the importance of the $4.28 trillion (€3.32 trillion) transatlantic trade relationship to the global economy.
The November meeting will be the first EU-US summit since the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which made Mr Van Rompuy the European Union’s first President.
The treaty, drawn up to replace the aborted EU Constitution, was designed to boost the bloc’s global standing and streamline the institutions which represent half a billion people.
Leaders from the United States and European Union traditionally meet once a year for wide-ranging political and economic talks.
The announcement that Mr Obama will attend the Lisbon meetings comes after the US president ruffled feathers in Europe last May by backing out of a European summit in Madrid.
Recently, US-EU relations have been somewhat strained, as Europeans complained that transatlantic issues under the Obama administration at times have taken a backseat to US-Pacific region affairs under the Hawaii-born President.
There were also rumblings of discontent after President Obama failed to show up at observances in the German capital last year marking 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
And even at an EU-US summit in Washington last year, Mr Obama spent no more than an hour and a half with his European guests before taking his leave, to the consternation of his transatlantic partners.