US embassy cable - 05PARIS1209

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