The European Union has drafted a secret message to be sent to the next president of the United States. Here's what it doesn't say but might: Dear President Obama, Europe has high hopes for you. Almost certainly too high. With the exception of a few of our east European brethren, we will be delighted to see the end of President George W. Bush and his “my way or the highway” unilateral leadership style. Your election has created enormous excitement in Europe and you can expect an immediate lift in America's international image, which will make it easier for us to give public support to your policies and to U.S. leadership in global security. We look forward to a president who consults his allies -- and don't forget we are your most reliable democratic partners -- and who works with us, where possible through international institutions, to achieve our common goals. Here are our top priorities: • THE GLOBAL ECONOMY - We are all facing a long recession due in large part to the excesses of unregulated Anglo-Saxon financial capitalism that your predecessor championed. The mess you will inherit will make it even harder for you to keep your campaign promises. Please don't let your budget deficit and national debt run wild. While our deficits are forecast to rise to around the EU treaty limit of three percent of gross domestic product, the U.S. deficit is set to balloon to an unsustainable 9 percent of GDP unless you take quick remedial action. The best early confidence boost you could give the global economy would be to let President Bush in his lame-duck period conclude a world trade deal he should have accepted last July. We know you made some protectionist noises during the campaign, but we doubt you really meant them and we count on you to deliver congressional approval of a WTO agreement. Please show your support for reforming the international financial system by sending your economic advisers as observers in the U.S. delegation to next week's G20 summit on the credit crisis. That brings us to our next priority. • GLOBAL GOVERNANCE - The balance of power has shifted away from the West in eight years of the Bush administration while the institutions of global governance have stood still. The United Nations is suffering from malign neglect. NATO has bet the store on the war in Afghanistan but is not winning. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urgently need to redistribute power to emerging nations and get more funds to help overcome the impact of the financial crisis. It may prove impossible to reform the U.N. Security Council but it is worth another try. The Group of Eight industrialised nations, a key informal body for global governance, should be expanded to embrace the rising economic powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa, even though not all are democracies. This may be the West's last chance to reshape global institutions before the rising powers do it for themselves, potentially against our interests. • SAVING THE PLANET - We look forward to the United States finally joining the global fight against climate change after eight years of scientific denial and diplomatic obstruction. We are encouraged by your commitment to curbing greenhouse gas emissions and introducing a carbon trading system, which we hope will link with ours. We urge you to accept an international agreement to fight global warming at Copenhagen next year, but the more sceptical among us doubt you'll be ready. Please resist industrial lobbies that want to increase energy supply rather than reduce demand. And don't hide behind demands for China and India to accept emissions curbs before the United States agrees to cut its output of carbon dioxide. You are the world's number one polluter and the biggest per capita energy-guzzler. If you make the first move, China and India are more likely to come on board. • MIDDLE EAST PEACE - No area of the world has suffered more from the Bush administration's policies than the Middle East. Your predecessor neglected Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking until too late, waged a destabilising war in Iraq and spurned chances to engage Iran and try to curb its nuclear ambitions. Please make Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Syrian peace efforts a top priority, both to help stabilise the region as you withdraw from Iraq, and to reverse the spread of Iranian influence, which alarms Israelis, Arabs and Europeans alike. That requires a “tough love” policy towards Israel, which needs friendly pressure from Washington to make concessions for peace. The EU will back you with financial support, peacekeeping and institution-building but wants a political say too. IRAN: We welcome your commitment to talking to Iran. Some in Paris and London are a little concerned that you should not do so too hastily or seem too eager. We are prepared to support your dialogue with somewhat tougher sanctions, but don't expect too much sacrifice from Germany, Tehran's biggest European trading partner, in an election year. Make clear you are willing to strike a grand bargain with Iran that would secure regime survival and a legitimate role in regional security for the Islamic Republic provided Tehran verifiably ends its suspected nuclear weapons programme and stops active sabotage of Israeli-Arab peace efforts. But please give Iranians a chance to vote out President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad next June before you make the big move. • AFGHANISTAN, PAKISTAN AND TERRORISM - A military victory over the Taliban, al Qaeda and drug warlords in Afghanistan is improbable. Success will hinge on political engagement, including with Islamists, in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Europeans are prepared to invest more money and training staff to helping rebuild Afghanistan and stabilise Pakistan, but don't expect many more European troops on the war front in southern Afghanistan, especially not Germans. Our publics simply will not stomach that, and we are democracies. • RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND GEORGIA - We need your engagement to prevent Russia playing Europe off against America, and European nations against each other in the struggle over the Caucasus. Please recognize Russia has legitimate security interests in the region too. If you continue the Bush administration's push to give a road map for NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine, you will divide the alliance, anger Moscow and achieve nothing. We will pursue ways for the EU to help the former Soviet republics if you quietly drop the NATO membership idea. We hope to welcome you to Europe early and often. Don't wait until the NATO summit in April to come. As Jean-Claude Juncker, our longest-serving leader, said this week: “Probably the new president will try to take better into account European ideas, European initiatives, European requests. I do think the next American president, although taking better into account European interests, will put more responsibilities on the European shoulders. After January, the European Union will have to stop having Mr. Bush as an excuse.” Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist, the views expressed are his own. __
