European leaders, Obama vow to hold fast to NATO
Barack Obama and top European leaders warned Trump to stick to a strong transatlantic partnership.
BERLIN (AFP) - US President Barack Obama and top European leaders Friday warned Donald Trump to stick to a strong transatlantic partnership, urging ongoing NATO cooperation and pressure against Russia.
Trump s shock election win has sparked fears of drastic policy upheavals as he has challenged a near 70-year-old security shield for US allies under NATO and vowed to withdraw from hard-fought deals on the climate and Iran s nuclear programme.
The US president-elect s admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin has also raised questions over his attitude toward Moscow s backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as well as Russia s role in the Ukraine conflict
In the Berlin talks, Obama and the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain "agreed on the necessity of working collectively to move the transatlantic agenda forward", said a White House statement.
That meant "securing diplomatic resolution to the conflicts in Syria and eastern Ukraine", including putting the heat on Russia through continued sanctions until it met its commitments under a peace deal for Ukraine.
At the moment, progress on the ceasefire accord was "unseen," said German Chancellor Angela Merkel after the talks, in which the leaders also affirmed the "importance of continued cooperation through multilateral institutions, including NATO".
On Thursday, Obama had sounded a note of cautious optimism that Trump could change his position and tone once he takes on the role as president.
"There s something about the solemn responsibilities of that office ... that forces you to focus, that demands seriousness," Obama said at a joint press conference with Merkel.
"And if you re not serious about the job, then you probably won t be there very long. Because it will expose problems."
Friday s meeting is the first of its format since Trump s election. It opened with the burning question of the US-led coalition s battle against Islamic State jihadists in Syria and Iraq, as well as Europe s migrant crisis, before delving into the Ukraine conflict.
But it also included an "emotional and affectionate" exchange as European leaders said goodbye to Obama, who was on his farewell tour of the continent after eight years in office, said an aide to French President Francois Hollande.
In the visit, which first took Obama to Athens before he arrived in Berlin on Wednesday, the US leader took pains to stress the importance of a united Europe, as the EU faces unprecedented challenges that threatened to rip it apart.
"The EU remains one of the world s great political and economic achievements, and those achievements should not be taken for granted," Obama said.
He urged the leaders to look beyond their national crises and focus on the 28-member bloc as a whole, as "the achievements that we have seen on this continent, in contrast to a divided Europe of the previous century, are ones that remind us of how important it is that we work together".
France s Hollande is grappling with record low approval ratings ahead of next May s election that could see far-right candidate Marine Le Pen reach the second round run-off vote, or even win outright.
Italy s Matteo Renzi and Spain s Mariano Rajoy meanwhile are battling state debt woes.
And British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose country shocked the world when it voted to quit the EU, was updating Merkel on her Brexit plans in a separate meeting.
Ahead of the potentially bitter Brexit negotiations, Obama called on Brussels and London to work towards a future relationship that "preserve as closely as possible the economic and political and security relationships between the UK and EU".
Obama s choice of Berlin as the main stop for his European farewell tour has been interpreted by some observers as the passing of the baton of the defence of liberal democracy to Merkel, who also chairs the Group of 20 industrial and developing powers next year.
In a departure for the leader of a country that once took lessons from the United States on basic freedoms, Merkel s congratulatory message to Trump tied future cooperation to respecting common democratic values, including "respect for human dignity".
Obama gave a ringing endorsement to Merkel, who is expected to announce Sunday that she will run for a fourth term in next year s elections, and acknowledged that she would have heavy international burdens to shoulder.
"I wish I could be there to lighten her load somewhat. But she s tough," said Obama, who Friday headed off to Lima for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders.
