Europe is ready to work with Obama

By Thom Shanker and Helene Cooper

Sunday, January 4, 2009
WASHINGTON: After rebuffing the Bush administration on a number of fronts, European governments are signaling that they may be more willing to engage with the incoming Obama administration on a variety of stalled issues, including taking in prisoners from the Guantánamo Bay detention center and strengthening sanctions against Iran.

But it may not be all honeymoon: European diplomats say they will push President-elect Barack Obama to soothe Russian anger over plans to establish missile defense bases in Europe. And American officials say that the Obama administration is certain to press countries to fulfill, or even increase, pledges for personnel and equipment for the NATO mission in Afghanistan, long a point of tension among allies.

"There are expectations across Europe that the United States will be asking more," one senior American official said. "The question is whether decisive amounts will come."

One issue that may be back on the table is resettling detainees from the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. Though there is still not consensus among European governments, several, led by Germany and Portugal, have said that they will consider taking in detainees if Obama follows through on his promise to close the Guantánamo prison.

Such a move would remove a major stumbling block to closing the camp and would represent a reversal on the part of European allies who have rejected requests by President George W. Bush to resettle detainees.

Thomas Steg, a spokesman for the German government, said that such a deal would hinge on Obama's closing the military prison, and that even then, "if we begin to review such closure plans and take a stance, then it can only be in a European context based on a discussion with all member states."

The French Foreign Ministry has also called for a common European Union policy on how to deal with the Guantánamo prisoners, and some European diplomats have said they will begin working toward such a plan.

Reports about European countries' willingness to consider accepting some detainees from Guantánamo after Obama's inauguration have clearly irked the Bush administration, which has been intensively lobbying them to do so.

"If European countries are willing to take detainees from Guantánamo, that'd be a constructive step," said Dana Perino, the White House press secretary. "We've been asking them to do so for years. We're glad they're finally willing to share in this important responsibility in the global war on terror."

Sean McCormack, the State Department spokesman, said he believed that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice should get the credit for the European turnaround.

"I can't speak to motivations on the part of Germany or any other country, but I would say that this change in attitude hasn't come about overnight, and really is the result of just an awful lot of hard work by Secretary Rice," McCormack said.

He said that Portugal, in particular, "should be praised for what they have done in sort of blazing a trail for a new European attitude in this regard."

Luís Amado, the foreign minister of Portugal, recently called on European governments to help the United States shut down Guantánamo by taking in detainees from third countries.

European diplomats said privately that their willingness to help Obama on Guantánamo went beyond a honeymoon strategy. Some say that helping to re-establish the camp's prisoners would allow their countries to re-establish credibility with their Muslim populations at home.

America's allies may also be more willing to help out Obama on Iran — providing he makes good on his promise to allow his administration to engage directly with Iranian officials without preconditions, one European diplomat said.

The United States, along with Europe, Russia and China, has been trying to get Iran to abandon its nuclear program through a mixture of economic sanctions and incentives, with no success so far. Bush administration officials have complained that part of the problem has been that Germany, Russia and China in particular have been unwilling to impose punitive sanctions against Iran.

But those countries might be more willing to toughen the sanctions against Iran if Obama "softens the atmosphere," the diplomat said, by talking directly with Iranian officials — a change that European negotiators have long pushed for. "It would be easier to make the case then that we are trying everything," the European diplomat said.

In exchange, America's allies are certain to expect a certain quid pro quo from the Obama administration, in particular on missile defense plans, according to European diplomats.

The Kremlin has responded with outrage to the Bush administration's plans to place two American missile defense bases in Europe, one in Poland and one in the Czech Republic, and senior Russian generals have even threatened military retaliation against NATO members.

Alarmed by the rising tension, European diplomats say they will ask the Obama administration — in particular Hillary Rodham Clinton, nominated to be secretary of state — to take a more conciliatory line toward Moscow.

While Obama has not stated his specific policy plans on missile defense, he has routinely expressed great skepticism over financing the system until its abilities have been proved.

On the war in Afghanistan, however, Obama has been outspoken in pushing for a bigger military effort against the Taliban. A particularly clear signal was sent by his decision to keep Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who has called for more emphasis on Afghanistan — and who has made headlines with what some frustrated NATO alliance partners have called his "megaphone diplomacy" of criticizing NATO nations for not doing more.

NATO has not met its pledges for combat troops, nor for the vitally important transport helicopters, military trainers and other support personnel. Gates has insisted that commitments made by NATO allies should be filled by alliance partners — even by those nations who resist direct combat roles.

To meet commanders' requests for more combat troops, the Obama administration is expected to deploy 20,000 to 30,000 additional American troops to Afghanistan, a significant portion within six months.