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Strains With Russia Shadow Bush's Europe Trip
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is chairing this year's G-8, has placed at the top of the summit's agenda a proposal to cut greenhouse gas emissions to half their 1990 levels by 2050 while limiting temperature rises to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
The Bush administration has rejected both proposals as unworkable and potentially harmful to economic growth. Still, Bush's counteroffer marks the first time the administration has endorsed the notion of setting goals to combat climate change.
"Most of the Bush presidency has been about the global war on terror and hard power, and the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq," said Charles A. Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. "I think he's cycling back to a nicer, kinder America."
Last week, Bush nominated Robert B. Zoellick, seen by many Europeans as a moderate and internationalist, to head the World Bank. The president ratcheted up economic sanctions against Sudan in an attempt to end the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. He called for a doubling of the U.S. commitment to fight AIDS in Africa and pledged a modest increase to an education fund for the world's poorest children.
Bush's policies to date have made him deeply unpopular throughout much of Europe. Tens of thousands of anti-Bush and anti-globalization demonstrators are likely to turn out during the president's time at the summit in Germany, which begins Wednesday. Large protests are also planned when the president visits Italy at the end of the week.
Bush is scheduled to deliver a speech on democracy and security in Prague on Tuesday. He then goes to the G-8 meeting for three days, before heading to Poland, Rome and Vatican City, where he is to meet with Pope Benedict XVI. He is then scheduled to visit Albania and Bulgaria before returning to Washington on Monday next week.
While Bush remains the target of criticism on the Continent, his relationship with some European leaders appears to have improved over his first term, when he clashed openly with the chancellor of Germany and the president of France.
Both countries now have new leaders, who appear to be taking a more pragmatic approach. Merkel has forged a strong relationship with Bush while French President Nicolas Sarkozy has emphasized strengthening ties with the United States.
