The US president Mr George W Bush has arrivedin Spainforhis first trip to Europe, where he is expected to come under fire over global warming.
|
Mr Bush was greeted by the Spanish Foreign Minister Mr Josep Pique at Barajas airport in Madrid.
HemetKing Juan Carlos at the Zarzuela palace and then held talks with the Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar at the country estate of Quintos de Mora near the historic city of Toledo.
On the eve of his arrival in Madrid, Mr Bush also poked fun at his command of Spanish in an interview with Spanish television - but also mispronounced the name of the prime minister he was to meet hours later.
"It's a great honour to travel to Spain and visit with the king and also with Prime Minister Anzar, but I have to practise this very pretty language," he said from Washington in ungrammatical Spanish."And if I don't practise, I'm going to destroy this language."
European leaders were angered by the new president's decision to abandon the Kyoto agreement on cutting the output of greenhouse gases and have put the issue on the agenda for Thursday when they meet Mr Bush as a group for the first time.
But Mr Bush will use the trip to seek support for his so-called Son of Star Wars missile defence plan and faces the toughest meeting of his career on Saturday in Slovenia when he meets Russian president Mr Vladimir Putin for the first time.
Before he left, he was given a briefing on pleasing European leaders by a panel of five experts - including Oxford dons and Financial Timesjournlists.
The secret talks, which lasted two-and-a-half hours, aimed to give Mr Bush a grasp of the issues which concern Europe's leaders before his first trip outside North America as president.
A White House source told Timemagazine: "He hasn't thought a lot about these issues before so he's taking this very seriously."
|
|
Mr Bush - facing a stiff test on European trip
|
Thousands of anti-Bush protestors have gathered in Madrid to greet him.
The first major demonstration targeting Bush's one-day visit was scheduled for thisevening outside the US embassy in Madrid, when the president was expected to be inside.
The protest was focused on a variety of issues, including globalisation, US military intervention, the death penalty, labour rights and environmental protection.
Security was tight but Spanish officials said they were imposing no extraordinary measures despite the discovery of two small bombs in Madrid on yesterday, believed to be the work of a Marxist group.
Mr Bush faces a tough meeting at NATOheadquarters in Brussels, when he will try to talk about his missile defence system.
It has attracted criticism from European countries who do not support it and fear it shows a determination by America to be less involved in NATO.
Most NATOmembers have not followed Britain's lead in backing the missile shield plan and fear it will prompt a fresh arms race, possibly involving China, as well as doing nothing to stabilise Russia.
And he faces more problems the next day in the Swedish city of Gothenburg when he will meet European Union leaders.
|
Global warming is on the agenda for the talks, with many EU leaders still angered at the US ditching its commitment to the Kyoto accord.
Last night Mr Bush launched a charm offensive ahead of the meeting, unveiling plans for new research into climate change and technology to help reduce the output of greenhouse gases.
"This is a challenge that requires a 100 per centeffort from us and the rest of the world," said Mr Bush.
"My administration is committed to a leadership role on the issue of climate change. We recognise our responsibility and will meet it at home, in our hemisphere and in the world."
He said he was looking forward to making his case to Mr Putin and the European leaders.
"I think the whole doctrine of blowing each other up...is an ancient doctrine," he said.
PA