Does Washington care about the EU?

Try as it might, the European Union’s efforts to act like a bigger player in world affairs keep running into obstacles.

The latest setback is a report that President Barack Obama won’t be able to make it to the annual EU-U.S. summit this year, pencilled in for Madrid in May. A hectic domestic agenda and the fact the U.S. president made 10 foreign trips last year — more than any other president in his first year in office — means staying at home is the priority and the Europe Union will have to wait.

Even though Spain is hosting the EU-U.S. summit, it will be chaired by the new EU president, Herman Van Rompuy. Van Rompuy’s office knew nothing on Monday about whether Obama was attending, saying only that it had read press reports that he wasn’t coming. Officials referred calls to the Spanish rotating presidency in Brussels, which is in charge of planning summits and other meetings for the next six months. Even if Obama were to withdraw officially from the Madrid summit, it’s not clear from a protocol point of view who the White House should write to to explain: the Spanish EU presidency in Brussels, Van Rompuy’s office, the president of the European Commission or the Spanish prime minister’s office in Madrid.

The Lisbon treaty has been in force for only two months, but the question reputedly once asked by former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger ”Who do I call if I want to speak to Europe?”, is still appears valid.

Note EU-Digest: Why doesn't EU President Van Rompuy take some initiative in this respect and let his second in command handle the meeting while he also stays away if Obama does not show-up.

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