Bush to meet EU and Nato leaders
US President George Bush is expected to hold a summit with European Union leaders on February 22, one month after his inauguration for his second term, officials said today.
“President Bush will be in Brussels on February 22 to meet with European leaders on various issues of concern,” said Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said the talks Bush would have with EU leaders and a separate Nato leaders’ summit on the same day, would be “a chance to find a new trans-Atlantic consensus”.
Several EU nations, led by France and Germany, vehemently opposed the US-led war in Iraq, which has strained relations between the 25-nation bloc and Washington for the better part of Bush’s first term in office.
During his visit to Brussels today, US Secretary of State Colin Powell stressed the time had come to look to the future and bury the differences over the Iraq war.
