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American Morning

President Bush Visits Spain

Aired June 12, 2001 - 10:07   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In other news, President Bush is in Spain at this hour, the first stop of his five-nation European tour. Mr. Bush and his wife Laura were greeted by Spain's King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia. But the warm welcome may become a bit chilly later on. Many European leaders are upset by a number of Bush policies, including plans to develop a missile defense system and abandon the 1997 Kyoto treaty on global warming.

For more on that, let's turn to our Christiane Amanpour, who is in London -- Christiane, is this a matter of Europeans really being so strongly behind the Kyoto Protocol or is it more of an anti-American sentiment that Mr. Bush just plays into?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, I think it's definitely a matter of the environment. Wile some anti-Americanism is fashionable on, perhaps, a street level, when it comes to the governments, they have had very good working relationships with the United States over the last several years, particularly during the closed circuit period, and I think what you're finding right now is that they had expected President Bush to come in and pretty much perform foreign policy as normal, if you like, in terms of keeping a continuum.

But what they found, much to their surprise, was that on many major issues, President George W. Bush was prepared to reverse or reinterpret foreign policy according to what he wanted to do. So that when he unilaterally abandoned the Kyoto principle, they were shocked not just because of what he had done, but because it had happened with absolutely no warning, no consultation and sort of came as a bolt out of the blue. And environment is a very big issue in Europe, as, of course, is missile defense. That issue, as well, is causing a great deal of skepticism here in Europe.

And to be honest, to sum it up, he's coming here at a time when perhaps not in recent memory has a modern American presidency been so out of touch and had such a wide gulf on many substantive policy issues with Europe.

KAGAN: Christiane, how is he being played as a world leader and as a personality in the papers there?

AMANPOUR: Well, to be frank, the papers have been a little cruel. There are quite a few barbed comments and headlines and articles in today's paper. Let me just read you a couple. "Mr. Death Penalty," one newspaper called him. "The Toxic Texan," said another one. "The Man of the Three B's: Bible, Baseball and Barbecue." Basically it gives you an idea of the deep skepticism and sort of astonishment that President Bush is viewed certainly by the media.

Now, on the other hand, in terms of the government leaders and officials who he'll be dealing with, there's an attempt to try to explain their position to the United States. They want to have a real dialogue on all these issues, from environment to missile defense, and try to explain why they believe that the foreign policy positions that the United States has held up until now should be the ones to move forward.

But what I can say is that he is coming to a very skeptical Europe and although many people know that he is personally a very charming and warm person, it'll remain to be seen whether he can bridge the substantive policy gaps that exist right now during this short trip. And much has been made of the fact that he's skipping over countries such as Britain, France, Germany, you know, the key major allies. He has said that he does plan a trip to Britain next month. But, you know, a lot has been made of this first trip by this new president.

KAGAN: Christiane Amanpour in London, thank you for that perspective.

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