Bush Set To Begin Eight Day European Trip
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WASHINGTON — President Bush departs Washington bright and early this morning for an eight-day trip to Europe, beginning with the American-European summit in Slovenia. The tour is scheduled to take him to Germany, Italy, France, and England, with a final stop likely in Northern Ireland.
The goal of the trip, the White House press secretary said in May, is “to strengthen the trans-Atlantic partnership and to celebrate the enduring friendship between our nations based on shared democratic values.” Mr. Bush will also commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Berlin airlift and the post-World War II Marshall Plan for Europe.
Tomorrow, Mr. Bush is to meet with Slovenia’s president, Danilo Turk, and prime minister, Janez Jansa, as well as E.U. leaders who will gather in the quiet sub-Alpine setting of the five-century-old fortified palace of Brdo Castle, near Kranj, Slovenia.
The president departs for Meseberg, Germany, to have dinner with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, that night.
On Wednesday, Ms. Merkel and Mr. Bush will hold a news conference, and on Thursday, the spotlight will be on Italy. Mr. Bush will meet with President Napolitano of Italy at the presidential Quirinale Palace in Rome, as well as with Italy’s prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi — a man Mr. Bush has described as a “good friend” and one of the president’s staunchest European defenders in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq — in his office at Palazzo Chigi.
On Friday, the president will have an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican before leaving for Paris, where he will address the Organization for Economic Cooperation and dine with President Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace. A formal meeting with “Sarko,” as the French call their pro-American leader, follows Saturday, as will visits to the U.S. military cemetery in the Parisian suburb of Suresnes and to a French World War II memorial in Mont Valerien.
On Sunday, the president will meet with Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle before dining with Prime Minister Brown at 10 Downing St. in London. Mr. Bush is expected to visit Belfast in Northern Ireland on Monday before returning to Washington.
