Obama to Focus on Importance of Europe in Speech
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
In his address in Brussels on Wednesday, the president will also attempt
to outline why it is crucial to confront President Vladimir V. Putin of
Russia after his takeover of Crimea, aides said.
BRUSSELS
— President Obama will deliver a speech here on Wednesday that aides
say is designed to explain and honor Europe’s role in the global
democratic movement and to demonstrate how Russia’s use of military
force in Ukraine threatens to undermine the rules that free nations have
fought to establish.
Mr.
Obama has spent the first half of his European trip this week immersed
in the gritty details of persuading his European allies to support
sanctions against Russia, President Vladimir V. Putin and some of that
nation’s most prominent business leaders and politicians, and to help
finance an economic recovery for Ukraine. On Wednesday, he will continue
those consultations with European Union and NATO officials.
But
in the speech, he will attempt to step back and look at the broader
issues, aides said, in the hopes of helping to outline for Americans
back home and for allies around the world why it is crucial to confront
Mr. Putin after his takeover of Crimea.
A
senior administration official said that by “standing at the heart of
Europe in Brussels, the center of the European project,” the president
“will be able to speak about the importance of European security, the
importance of not just the danger to the people of Ukraine but the
danger to the international system that Europe and the United States
have invested so much in.” The official spoke anonymously to preview the
speech.
Mr.
Obama will deliver the address at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, perhaps
the most prominent cultural site in Belgium. A discussion of the
continuing crisis in Crimea will be a key part of the speech, the
official said.
“The
reason we take that so seriously is both because of our commitment to
the security of Europe and the ability of the people of Ukraine to make
their own decisions,” the official said. “But also because it undermines
the international system when there are such flagrant violations of
international law.”
Even
so, the president is not likely to spend most of the speech talking
about Ukraine, aides said. Instead, most of the address will invoke
broader themes, especially about the importance of the relationship
between the United States and its European allies.
That
message could help to soothe some hurt feelings among European leaders,
who watched with dismay over the last several years as Mr. Obama talked
about a “pivot toward Asia” in American foreign policy. The president
did not seek to abandon Europe in adjusting his foreign policy, but many
on the continent took it that way.
The
recent revelations that the National Security Agency has spied on world
leaders have deepened the chill between the leaders in European
capitals and Mr. Obama. This week’s trip to Europe and the speech on
Wednesday, officials said, are an attempt to demonstrate that the
president still views Europe as perhaps the most crucial region in the
world.
The
senior official said the president will use “this moment of crisis in
Europe to reinforce the importance of a Europe that is whole, free and
at peace, both to the people of the United States and Europe, but also
to the world — because ultimately this has been an anchor of the
international system that we’ve spent decades to build.”
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