Europe doesn’t matter much to Obama

“What can you give Europe, Mr Obama?” asks Rzeczpospolita the day after the US president’s swearing-in ceremony in Washington. The daily hastens to answer: not much.

For the American leader, Europe has been “less and less important”, Rzeczpospolita points out. The president has already announced a “pivot” towards Asia and the Pacific region and “there are no reasons for him to suddenly become interested in the Old Continent”. The United States is becoming a “superpower on a budget”, prone to influencing global affairs “from the back seat”, as was recently demonstrated in Libya. By not intervening directly, the US was able to avoid large military spending. “In this situation,” adds Rzeczpospolita –

It is really hard to say what Europe can expect from Mr Obama in his second term. It should be suggested to him that Europe is no less important than Asia. That he should draw conclusions from the failure of the “reset” with Russia and to finally understand the security needs of Central Europe and Poland. But will he ever do that? Will European leaders manage to send such a message? This, unfortunately, is rather unlikely.