Rice calls for US, Europe to move beyond differences

PARIS -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called yesterday for Europe and the United States to turn away from past disagreements and focus on spreading their common democratic values to the Middle East and around the world, saying recent developments show that ''we've only just begun to see what freedom can achieve."

In a speech billed as her first major foreign policy address since taking over as secretary of state for President Bush's second term, Rice echoed the themes of Bush's inaugural call to promote democracy abroad as a way to fight Islamic radicals, who she said are ''swimming against the tide of the human spirit."

''Freedom by its very nature must be homegrown," Rice said. ''It cannot be given, and it certainly cannot be imposed." But she added, ''Spreading freedom in the Arab and Muslim worlds is urgent work that cannot be deferred."

Speaking at a renowned political science school in the allied capital that had most vociferously opposed the US invasion of Iraq nearly two years ago, Rice stressed that now ''it is time to turn away from the disagreements of the past" and begin a ''new chapter" in the trans- Atlantic alliance.

''America has everything to gain from having a stronger Europe as a partner in building a safer and better world," Rice told an audience at the Sciences Politiques. ''So let each of us bring to the table ideas, experience, and resources and let us discuss and decide -- together -- how best to employ them for democratic change."

Rice's remarks are seen as particularly important because they end the debate in the Bush administration over whether a united Europe is a rival to the United States on global issues.

''America stands ready to work with Europe on our common agenda -- and Europe must stand ready to work with America," Rice said. ''After all, history will surely judge us not by our disagreements, but by our new achievements."

Rice, making her first trip to Europe as secretary of state after a Middle East stopover to promote Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, hailed an agreement announced yesterday by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to halt acts of violence. She called the accord ''clearly an important step forward," although the United States and the parties involved ''have no illusions about the difficulties ahead."

Saying that Western democracies have ''turned a blind eye" for too long to a ''freedom deficit" in other parts of the world, Rice made an impassioned plea for trans-Atlantic unity in promoting liberty, which she said cannot be achieved unless democratic leaders are willing to take a stand like their predecessors did in creating their own democracies and winning the Cold War.

''I know it looks really hard to talk about the spread of freedom and liberty to places it has never been," Rice said in response to a question from the audience. But ''so much is changing in our world, so much is changing in the Middle East. And if we in this great alliance put our values and our efforts and our resources to work on behalf of this great cause, we've only just begun to see what freedom can achieve."

After the speech, she planned to meet with French intellectuals to reinforce the message and attempt to influence public opinion, which has been overwhelmingly hostile to the Iraq war as well as to the Bush administration's first-term reluctance to do engage more intensely in the Arab-Israeli peace process.

The speech also signified that the United States was dropping the idea of an old and new Europe that had been defined by Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld when France, Germany, and other traditional US allies raised concerns about the US war in Iraq.

Some of those attitudes in Europe have changed, too, especially since the election in Iraq last month. For example, after talks Saturday with Rice in Warsaw, Adam Rotfeld, the Polish foreign minister, said, ''In the year 2005, we are in a completely different place than we were in the years 2004 and 2003."

On her tour across Europe, Rice has generally met a warm reception, including in Germany.

France may prove more difficult. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier said Monday that the United States and France are facing a challenge of confidence. ''The Americans need to trust the Europeans and accept Europe playing its full role in the international arena. Alliance doesn't mean allegiance," he said in an interview with the newspaper Liberation.

The two countries still differ on Iraq, Barnier indicated. Although the Jan. 30 Iraqi elections ''signal an encouraging stage toward the return to stability," Barnier said he believes Bush is unlikely to declare Iraq a victory because of ''the Iraqi people's suffering and the number of victims."

Yet even Paris appears to want to turn a diplomatic page. For all the differences over Iraq, Barnier noted common goals of fighting terrorism in Afghanistan, Haiti, Kosovo, and often in Africa.

Making more room for the European Union is in Washington's interest, he said in the interview. ''The time has come for a new start in our relations," Barnier said. ''This presupposes our mutual respect and us remembering that being allies doesn't prevent us from defending our convictions."