BRUSSELS, Feb 4, 2010 (AFP) - Europe needs to show Washington it "exists" and not fear being marginalised on the world stage, the Spanish EU presidency said Thursday after Barack Obama pulled out of a scheduled summit.
"We must be able to show our North American friends that Europe exists, that in a complex world we can best defend our values if the United States and Europe go forward hand in hand," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told a European parliamentary committee in Brussels.
"Europe today is always on the defensive" but it "must not fear the G2" he added, referring to the US and China nest where Europe is having difficulty getting heard.
Moratinos, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency for the first half of the year, sought to play down the importance of President Obama's decision not to attend the planned EU-US summit in May, which some observers have seen as a snub, or perhaps worse, a lack of interest in hearing what Europe has to say.
The scheduled visit by Obama had been a high point on the Spanish EU presidency calendar.
He spoke of a "delay" in the summit programme due to a calendar clash.
However at the same time Moratinos let it be known that Obama's decision was not without consequence.
An "ambitious new transatlantic agenda" could be delayed, Moratinos said.
A senior US official justified the decision, pointing the finger at Europe and blaming confusion over who exactly runs European foreign policy.
The EU's new reforming Lisbon Treaty created the role of a reinforced EU foreign affairs supremo, a post handed to British peer Catherine Ashton.
The system of the rotating EU presidency is continued but, according to the treaty, at a lower level.
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