Politics

Bush Faces Heat In Europe

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

June 11, 2001 / 2:16 PM EDT / CBS

President Bush opened his first European trip on the defensive Tuesday as European allies rejected his stand on global warming and opposed his plans for a missile defense system.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, Mr. Bush said, "I look forward to making my case."

Mr. Bush had been meeting privately with Aznar at the Spainaird's whitewashed ranch house south of Madrid when the European Union served notice from Brussels that U.S. allies rejected the president's new initiatives on climate change, calling them short on action.

They urged Mr. Bush to change his mind and back the Kyoto treaty on global warming.

Mr. Bush said the Kyoto treaty was flawed, "unrealistic" and not based on sound science. He said that his administration was committed to reducing greenhouse gasses in the United States.

As to his critics in the European Union, whom he meets on Thursday in Brussels, Mr. Bush said: "I come to the conference believing that every leader is sincere about his desire to clean the world and so are we. We have a different approach, but we have the same goals."

Aznar noted that Spain has ratified the Kyoto treaty and said the two countries "may have some differences" on the issue.

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"We can and we must discuss the instruments to achieve" the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

Mr. Bush, who is scheduled to meet Vladimir Putin for the first time on Saturday in Slovenia, said he will offer the Russian president "a strong normal relationship with America."

"Russia is not the enemy of the United States," the president said, defending his position to abrogate the two nations' Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in order to build a missile defense shield for the United States.

As it is, the treaty prevents America "from exploring other opportunities," he said.

Summit Threat?

Five Danes have been arrested suspected of plotting to sabotage this week's European Union summit in Gothenburg, Swedish police said Tuesday two days before President Bush arrives in the southern Swedish city.

Mr. Bush will meet the heads of state and government of the 15 EU states before their summit Friday and Saturday.

Gothenburg polie said in a statement they also seized "materials that could be used as weapons," in an early morning raid on an apartment. The objects were sent to a national forensic laboratory for analysis.

The laboratory is responsible for analyzing potentially hazardous materials such as explosives and poisons. The police declined to give further details on what they had found.

The five were arrested on a charge of "preparing to commit serious sabotage." Police said they were all born in the 1970s and were not previously known to police.
(Reuters)

Mr. Bush argued strongly for exploring the missile defense shield, which many overseas allies fear will trigger a new arms race.

"I realize it's going to require a lot of consultation, but I'm willing to listen," he concluded.

Pledging to help Spain combat its serious problem with terrorism, Mr. Bush said, "Part of the missile defense dialogue is about fighting terrorism."

Mr. Bush also defended U.S. policy on capital punishment, the day after the execution of Timothy McVeigh.

"The death penalty is the will of the people in the United States," Mr. Bush said.

He said he recognizes that many Europeans disagree. "There's so much more that unites us than divides," he added. "I refuse to let any issue isolate America from Europe."

America's penchant for the death penalty puts it ethically at odds with its European allies, which have all abolished it.

Aznar opened the press conference on a light note, teasing Mr. Bush about his Spanish.

Mr. Bush, who had some trouble with the language during a taped interview that preceded his arrival here, is "speaking better and better every day," Aznar joked.

The two leaders spoke side by side on a stone patio beneath towering pines at the prime minister's official residence, where a stray cat prowled at their feet.

Security was tight but Spanish officials said they were imposing no "extraordinary" measures despite the discovery of two small bombs in Madrid on Monday, believed to be the work of a Marxist group.

The first major demonstration targeting Mr. Bush's one-day visit to Spain was scheduled for Tuesday evening outside the U.S. embassy in Madrid, when the president was expected to be inside.