By Martin Banks - 16th March 2009
A visit to parliament by the president of the United States would have sent out a wonderful message about the legitimacy of the parliament ahead of June's elections. I am afraid, though, that a wonderful opportunity has been lost
Jo Leinen
President Obama has rejected an invitation to address next month's parliamentary plenary in Brussels.
The invitation was sent by the assembly's president Hans-Gert Pöttering in the wake of Obama's election victory.
No US president has addressed parliament since Ronald Reagan in 1985 and hopes were high that Obama would make an appearance at the mini-plenary in Brussels during his visit to Europe next month.
He was invited to Brussels on 2 April, sandwiched between his appearance at the G20 summit in London on 1 April and his participation in Strasbourg on 3 April to mark the 60th anniversary of Nato.
Obama is also due to attend an EU-US summit in Prague on 4 April.
News that he had rejected the invitation to attend parliament was given to a meeting of the conference of presidents, or group leaders, in Strasbourg last Thursday.
The reason given was that there was no room in his schedule for such a visit.
The decision was greeted with dismay by German Socialist MEP Jo Leinen who described it as a "disappointment and a pity."
He added, "I understand he will be busy but, let's face it, he won't be far away and, I would have thought, could have squeezed in a visit to Brussels to what is the second biggest directly elected assembly in the world.
"A visit to parliament by the president of the United States would have sent out a wonderful message about the legitimacy of the parliament ahead of June's elections. I am afraid, though, that a wonderful opportunity has been lost.
"This, sadly, seems to reflect the fact that for the Americans the EU, and parliament in particular, is still off the radar."
Leinen said the recent visit to parliament of US secretary of state Hillary Clinton "could hardly be considered compensation."
"The fact is that she did not address plenary or MEPs but a group of young people on a Friday," he said.
UK ALDE deputy Andrew Duff said, "I agree that it is time that the US took the EU, including the parliament, more seriously.
"But, having said that, I understand his decision not to attend the session because of other commitments."
