US Vice-President Joe Biden on Saturday pledged support to the Spanish European Union presidency's efforts to help the EU overcome its economic crisis, after meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in Madrid, dpa reported. Zapatero called for a joint EU-US effort to shift the responsibility to financial institutions rather than making citizens pay for the global crisis. The two leaders appeared before the press on the second day of Biden's two-day official visit to Spain, without taking questions. Biden, the highest-ranking member of the US administration to visit Spain since 2001, described bilateral relations as being "stronger" than ever. He thanked Spain for its contribution to fighting insurgents in Afghanistan despite domestic criticism of the presence of Spanish troops there. The 2004 Madrid train bombings, which killed 191 people, and the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States were staged by people with links to Afghanistan, Biden said. Spain has about 1,300 soldiers in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led ISAF force, and is due to increase its contingent to nearly 1,600. Biden and Zapatero wished a rapid recovery for King Juan Carlos, who had a benign growth removed from his lung on Saturday, after meeting Biden on Friday. During the meeting, Biden thanked Juan Carlos for Spain's role in Afghanistan and for receiving prisoners from the US detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba. Spain has received two prisoners from Guantanamo, and is due to take three more in an attempt to help US President Barack Obama close the camp. Biden met the king in an atmosphere of "extraordinary cordiality and understanding," which reflected an "excellent" phase in US-Spanish relations, palace sources said. Relations cooled under Obama's predecessor George W Bush, who was angered by Zapatero's decision to recall Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004. Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega denied that Biden's visit was meant to compensate for an EU-US summit that was postponed after Obama said he would be unable to attend. -- SPA
