MEDIA REACTION REPORT - PRESIDENT BUSH IN EUROPE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001209

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR INR/R/MR; IIP/RW; IIP/RNY (FRANK); BBG/VOA; IIP/WEU;
AF/PA; EUR/WE (DEBORAH MENNUTI)/P/SP; D/C (MCCOO); EUR/PA
(BERBENA); INR/P; INR/EUC; PM; OSC ISA FOR ILN; NEA; WHITE
HOUSE FOR NSC/WEUROPE; DOC FOR ITA/EUR/FR AND PASS USTR/PA
(ANN LUZZATO); USINCEUR FOR PAO; NATO/PA; MOSCOW/PA; ROME/PA;
BRUSSELS/PA; USVIENNA FOR USDEL OSCE.

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC KMDR FR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION REPORT - PRESIDENT BUSH IN EUROPE
PARIS - FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2005


(A) SUBJECTS COVERED IN TODAY'S REPORT:

PRESIDENT BUSH IN EUROPE

(B) SUMMARY OF COVERAGE:

THE POPE'S HEALTH AND THE ON-GOING HOUSING SCANDAL CONCERNING
FRENCH FINANCE MINISTER HERVE GAYMARD, DOMINATE HEADLINES
TODAY. PRESIDENT BUSH'S EUROPEAN TRIP CONTINUES TO RECEIVE
HEADLINE AND EDITORIAL COVERAGE.

A POSITIVE, BUT UNRELATED STORY IS CATHOLIC LA CROIX'S
HEADLINE AND TWO-PAGE REPORT: "TWO MONTHS AFTER THE TSUNAMI,
ASIA IS COMING TO LIFE AGAIN" WITH AN ARTICLE PRAISING THE
FACT THAT THE U.S. AND JAPAN ARE PROVIDING THE COUNTRIES THAT
WERE HIT BY THE TSUNAMI WITH EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS FOR TIDAL
WAVES.

TWO LEADING FRENCH DAILIES, RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO AND LEFT-
OF-CENTER LIBERATION TAKE DIFFERENT VIEWS OF THE MEETING
BETWEEN PRESIDENTS BUSH AND PUTIN AND FOCUS ON PRESIDENT
BUSH'S PROVIDING PUTIN WITH A LESSON IN DEMOCRACY. LIBERATION
CALLED THE MEETING A "HEATED CONFRONTATION" WITH A VLADIMIR
PUTIN "VISIBLY TENSE." BY CONTRAST, LE FIGARO IMPLIED THAT
PRESIDENT BUSH FOUND HIMSELF "PLACED IN A POSITION WHERE HE
WAS FORCED TO JUSTIFY AMERICAN DEMOCRACY." COMMENTARIES IN
GENERAL, HOWEVER, AGREED THAT THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO
LEADERS HAS CHILLED CONSIDERABLY DESPITE EFFORTS TO "MAINTAIN
THE ILLUSION" OF AGREEMENT. (LE FIGARO) A NUMBER OF REGIONAL
DAILIES DEVOTE THEIR EDITORIALS TO THIS MEETING AND RUSSO-
AMERICAN RELATIONS.(SEE PART C)

ALBERT ROHAN, FORMER DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE AUSTRIAN MINISTRY
OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PENS AN OP-ED IN ECONOMIC RIGHT-OF-CENTER
LES ECHOS ENTITLED: "EUROPE AND BUSH: AN IMPOSSIBLE LOVE
STORY." "EUROPEANS DO NOT WANT EXPLANATIONS, THEY WANT TO BE
CONSULTED, THEY WANT TO TAKE PART IN THE AMERICAN DECISION-
MAKING PROCESS AND BE ASSURED THAT THEIR POSITION IS TAKEN
INTO ACCOUNT CONCERNING AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY."

EDITORIALIST FOR LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION, PATRICK SABATIER,
COMPARES PRESIDENT BUSH'S VISIT TO EUROPE TO THE DISCOVERY OF
AMERICA BY CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS IN 1492: "2005 WILL GO DOWN IN
HISTORY AS THE YEAR BUSH DISCOVERED EUROPE. THE MOST IMPORTANT
FACET OF THE VOYAGE OF AIR FORCE ONE, LIKE THE SANTA MARIA, IS
THAT IT TOOK PLACE." (SEE PART C)

(C) SUPPORTING TEXT/BLOCK QUOTES:

PRESIDENT BUSH TO EUROPE

"D ENTE"
PATRICK SABATIER IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION (02/25): "BUSH
SEEMS TO HAVE REALIZED THAT TO TRY AND THWART THE EMERGENCE OF
THE EU AS A WORLD POWER IS A DANGEROUS GAME THAT WOULD BE
COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE IF HE FAILED, AS HE SURELY WOULD. THE NEW
WORLD WILL HAVE TO DEAL WITH AN OLD CONTINENT THAT IS REVAMPED
AND HAS BECOME ITS EQUAL, EXCEPT MILITARILY, IN ORDER TO MAKE
IT INTO A PARTNER AND NOT A RIVAL. EUROPEANS AND AMERICANS
SHARE THE SAME VALUES OF DEMOCRACY AND FREEDOM. BUT EUROPEANS
DO NOT SHARE THE ZEALOUSNESS OF BUSH IN HIS CRUSADE FOR
DEMOCRACY. THIS IS WHY THE U.S. AND THE EU HAVE DIFFERENT
APPROACHES ON VARIOUS SENSITIVE ISSUES FROM IRAN TO CHINA AND
EVEN RUSSIA. ON THIS LAST ISSUE THE EUROPEANS WOULD DO WELL TO
APPLAUD BUSH'S INITIATIVE TO REMIND PUTIN OF THE FUNDAMENTALS
OF DEMOCRACY."

"THE QUARREL WITH EUROPE IS OVER"
VERONIQUE SOULE IN LEFT-OF-CENTER LIBERATION PROVIDES A
SUMMARY OF THE ISSUES WHERE DISAGREEMENTS PERSIST BETWEEN THE
U.S. AND THE EU AND WRITES (02/25): "IF GEORGE BUSH'S GOAL IN
COMING TO EUROPE WAS TO TURN THE PAGE ON THE QUARREL OVER
IRAQ, HE HAS SUCCEEDED. IF HIS INTENTION WAS TO CONVINCE
EUROPEANS TO ADHERE TO HIS VISION OF THE WORLD, HE HAS
FAILED."

"BUSH AND EUROPE"
IVAN RIOUFOL IN RIGHT-OF-CENTER LE FIGARO (02/25): "ARE THE
U.S. AND EUROPE ON THE SAME WAVE LENGTH? THE IMPRESSION THAT
IS LEFT AFTER GEORGE W. BUSH'S VISIT TO EUROPE THIS WEEK IS
MISLEADING. WHEN AMERICANS TALK OF ISLAMIC TERRORISM AS THE
COMMON ENEMY. EUROPEANS, SUPPORTERS OF A BRAND OF `SOFT-
POWER,' DO NOT UNDERSTAND. EVEN IF THE U.S. ACKNOWLEDGES THE
EU'S RIGHT TO EXIST, THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT IT SHOULD CHANGE
POLITICS, WHICH SO FAR HAVE PAID OFF RATHER WELL DESPITE
FRENCH CRITICISM CONCERNING A DESTABILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE
EAST."

"EUROPE MAKES ITS WAY. WITH BUSH"
JEAN-CLAUDE KIEFER SIGNS AN EDITORIAL IN REGIONAL LES
DERNIERES NOUVELLES D'ALSACE (02/25): "`REALPOLITIK' DOMINATES
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN WASHINGTON AND MOSCOW. [WHERE] A FEW LOW
BLOWS ARE ALLOWED. MOSCOW SELLS NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY TO IRAN AND
ARMS TO SYRIA, WHILE PRESIDENT BUSH ENCOURAGES THE
BYELORUSSIANS TO GET RID OF THEIR DICTATOR. AND WHILE THIS IS
SCARCELY APPRECIATED BY THE KREMLIN IT IS TOLERATED. THE
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE U.S. AND EUROPE IS DIFFERENT IT HAS
ALWAYS BEEN PASSIONATE. BUT REALISM IS GAINING SWAY. THE DAYS
OF CONDESCENSION ARE OVER. EUROPE IS A COMPETITIVE ECONOMIC
POWER AND VIEWED AS SUCH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC.
LESS EMOTION, WITHOUT THE CYNICISM THAT MARKS THE WASHINGTON-
MOSCOW ENTENTE, THIS IS WHAT `OLD EUROPE' EXPECTS FROM THE
U.S.. THIS IS [THE DIRECTION THAT AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY IS
TAKING]. FROM TRIUMPHANT UNILATERALISM TO CONTROLLED
`MULTILATERALISM.' FOR PARIS AND BERLIN, THIS IS A REAL STEP
FORWARD."

"RUSSIA'S INFLUENCE"
PIERRE FREHAL IN REGIONAL LE REPUBLICAIN LORAIN (02/25):
"RUSSIA AND THE U.S. MAY SHARE THE VIEW THAT IRAN SHOULD NOT
HAVE NUCLEAR WEAPONS, BUT THIS DID NOT STOP PUTIN FROM SIGNING
AN AGREEMENT WITH TEHERAN TO DEVELOP ITS CIVILIAN NUCLEAR
PROGRAM. THIS IS HOW MOSCOW AFFIRMS ITS INDEPENDENCE. AND
BEHIND THIS AFFIRMATION IS RUSSIA'S DESIRE TO PROVE THE SCOPE
OF ITS INFLUENCE AND THE LIMITS OF THE EURO-ATLANTIC WORLD'S
INFLUENCE IN A REGION THAT IT CONSIDERS TO BE ITS OWN. AFTER
GEORGIA AND UKRAINE, RUSSIA HAS NO INTENTION OF ALLOWING OTHER
EX-SOVIET REPUBLICS TO GO WEST."
WOLFF