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| Europe |
| Bush's re-election gets frosty reception from 'Old Europe' |
| 2004-11-06 |
| Moves to improve the EU's fractious and often testy relations with Washington were undermined yesterday by a fresh Anglo-French clash over Iraq and Europe's response to the re-election of President Bush. A call from Tony Blair for EU leaders to "work with the new reality" created by the American election result was given a dusty response by the French President, Jacques Chirac, who was the main opponent of the US-led war in Iraq. Asked at an EU summit about Mr Bush's re-election, M. Chirac said: "It is evident that Europe, now more than ever, must strengthen its unity and dynamism when faced with this great world power. More than ever, we must reinforce Europe politically and economically," M. Chirac added, as he repeated his calls for a "multi-polar" world. The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, responded: "I respect President Chirac but I don't always agree with him. He has an interesting point of view." |
| Posted by:Mrs. Davis |