Obama takes hefty agenda to Europe

U.S. President Barack Obama headed to Europe yesterday with a hefty agenda for tackling the economic crisis and seeking support for his new Afghanistan strategy on a trip that will test his global leadership. As he set out for his first major foreign trip since taking office in January, Obama will shift his focus to international economics and diplomacy after a heavy emphasis on domestic issues.

Obama departed yesterday for London, where he is expected to attend a summit of the Group of 20 major economies. He will then travel to the French-German border for a NATO summit before stopping in the Czech Republic and Turkey. His schedule includes meetings on the sidelines of the G20 with the leaders of Russia and China as well as other nations.

Positive tone

The Democratic U.S. president hopes to capitalize on a reservoir of goodwill because of the change in policies and style from his Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, who was unpopular abroad. Analysts said enthusiasm for Obama among the public in Europe will make for a positive tone in his meetings with allies such as British PMGordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But the warm personal reception Obama will receive might not ease the way for his aims of prodding European allies to spend more to rescue the global economy and offer more troops and resources for the Afghanistan war.

"He's obviously got a lot of charisma and it's his first big meeting. And I think people tend to be very polite in these situations but there could also be a level of awkwardness there," said Simon Johnson, a former IMF chief economist who is now a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. One theme at the economic summit will be a view in many countries that the U.S. bears much of the blame for the global financial meltdown because of its lax financial regulation and the debt-fueled U.S. housing bubble.

Obama has sought to distance himself from the Bush-era regulatory policy. He will take to the G20 an array of proposals to bring new oversight to hedge funds and other players and to give the U.S. government greater powers to deal with troubled financial firms deemed too big to fail. "It should be the case that he can walk in there and say, none of this was my fault and I'm cleaning up as fast as I can," Johnson said.

P.J. Crowley, a former official in President Bill Clinton's White House, said that Obama still will have something of a honeymoon period with his European counterparts. But, similar to the G20 summit, there may be resistance at the NATO gathering to his pleas for support for Afghanistan.

"Because he is popular and he isn't George W. Bush, European leaders are going to have an interest in this being seen as a successful first encounter," said Crowley, who is with the Center for American Progress think tank. The improvement in tone "doesn't necessarily solve the problem that Afghanistan is a very complex situation" and persuading European allies to devote more resources to the war there at a time of crisis will be tough, Crowley said.

At the NATO summit in Strasbourg, France, the leaders will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the alliance. In a move symbolizing closer Franco-American ties, France is rejoining NATO's military command after decades of self-imposed exile. Obama will use the summit to further explain a strategy he unveiled this week for Afghanistan that puts a strong focus as well on Pakistan.

First stop G20 summit in London

U.S. President Barack Obama's first stop will be an April 2 summit of the Group of 20 top economies, a follow-up to a meeting hosted by predecessor George W. Bush, to tackle the global economic crisis.

He will set the tone for his administration's relations with the rest of the world even as he is tested in his first encounter with global summitry. He "is going to listen in London, as well as to lead," said White House spokesman. Obama is set to meet British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Queen Elizabeth today. Talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will be watched for how he handles two world powers whose relations with Washington have often been tense.

Nato's 60th & Afghan war

U.S. President Barack Obama will attend NATO's 60th anniversary summit on April 3-4, split between Strasbourg in France and Kehl in Germany. He will push his new war strategy for Afghanistan, which calls for expansion of U.S. forces and for NATO allies to do more to secure the coming election and train army and police.

He will face resistance if he presses too hard on partners like Germany, which is reluctant to put forces in harm's way, so is likely to tread gently. Obama is also expected to take a more cautious stance than George W. Bush on future NATO expansion to former Soviet republics like Ukraine and Georgia, which Russia opposes. And he will take a stand-back approach on a planed missile shield.

EU meeting focusing on missile plans

U.S. President Barack Obama will attend a summit between the United States and the 27-member European Union in Prague on April 5.

Security will largely figure into Obama's agenda, with the Czechs looking for signs on whether he is serious about the missile defense system, part of which would be based there. Energy issues - in particular, Europe's dependence on Russian supplies - and Iran will also be on his list of concerns.

Obama is also expected to show top European leaders, who always felt slighted by the former President George W. Bush on climate change, a more cooperative attitude toward combating global warming.