Greek bridge for EU, USA

Defense Minister Yiannos Papantoniou will visit France and Germany next week in a bid to try to bridge the gap between them and the United States. The minister, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, met with US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld last week and has undertaken to mend fences between the EU and USA. «I will be going to Paris and Berlin on April 15 to talk about precisely these issues. I will be briefing my counterparts on the climate in the USA and the views I heard in Washington on all these issues,» Papantoniou told Kathimerini. «This could prove to be the springboard for improved relations and the foundation of a framework for joint action to deal with various threats,» he said. «The point of my visit to Paris and Berlin is to find out if Europeans are willing to talk to the USA to find a common basis.»