US President Can't Escape Troubles on the Road

Mired in a web of scandal and lies back home, Donald Trump embarked on his first international trip this week to the Middle East and Europe. It was seen by the administration as a possible new beginning. But it hasn't worked out that way.

By Christoph Scheuermann

Perhaps the trip didn't first begin on board Air Force One or with the King of Saudi Arabia, but instead back in the restroom at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, where a Fox News reporter exclaimed euphorically: "This is gonna be epic!"


Outside, an early summer thunderstorm poured down on Washington, the kind that is dazzling and loud, but which does little to bring down the stifling temperature. Some 60 journalists, camera crews and technicians, in addition to a handful of White House staffers and Secret Service agents, were waiting inside the terminal of the military airport. The president would first depart on Air Force One a day later, after the storm passed. But the press had to travel ahead on a charter jet in order to prepare for his arrival in Riyadh. The flight from Washington, with a stopover in Frankfurt, took 15 hours, but the New York Times wore a tie nonetheless.

Riyadh, Jerusalem, Rome, Brussels and, in the end, the G-7 summit in Sicily -- five stops in nine days. Donald Trump is discovering the world. Expectations for the trip, it should be noted, weren't particularly high. When it comes to Trump, a lot can happen, especially disasters. Recent weeks have shown just how unpredictable this man is, how thin-skinned and intractable -- and how poor he is at gauging moods and people. But what happens if he meets with national leaders who don't fawn over him? What if he feels as though he is on the defensive or has to deal with some kind of crisis that, for once, isn't of his own making?

Trump's hope had been to escape the Russia scandal and the ensuing turbulence -- and to attempt a fresh start. As it turned out, that hope dried up during the trip. The new revelations about Trump aren't slowing down and ongoing hearings in Congress continue to generate headlines.

It was a tour of the kind that few other presidents have undertaken. For Trump, a man who abhors anything foreign to him, detests anything unusual and would prefer to sleep in his own bed or at least one of his hotels, it has been a feat of endurance.

He reportedly even asked his advisers if the trip could be made shorter. Perhaps just five days instead of nine?

From the very beginning, Trump was the most unlikely of tourists. The man who wanted to prevent Muslims from traveling into the United States took part in a sword dance in the royal court of the King of Saudi Arabia. He joined the leaders of Kazakhstan, Burkina Faso and Somalia for a meal. The "America First" man who wanted to withdraw from conflicts promised peace to the Israelis and Palestinians. A man who swears by revenge met the pope in Rome before joining the leaders of the European Union in Brussels, an institution he hopes will fail. What could possibly go wrong?

Wall Street Journal, Saturday, May 20, Page 1:
 
'Fired FBI Director James Comey To Testify in Public'
 
In Saudi Arabia, the king arrived in a golf cart as Donald Trump disembarked from Air Force One in Riyadh. It was shortly before 10 a.m., but the air was already hot and dry at 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit). The sound of cannons echoed over the runway and a military band played. For a few minutes, American domestic policy, the chaos in the White House and the Russian scandal, seemed to have evaporated in the shimmering heat. Military jets roared in from the left at a frighteningly low altitude. Trump looked to the skies and peered on as the aircraft trailed red, white and blue smoke. The message from King Salman to Trump was clear: You are safe here. Nobody will harm you. It was as though the king were welcoming an equal: King Donald.

Trump's most recent scandal began two weeks ago when he fired the head of the FBI. James Comey had spent months investigating Russian influence on the U.S. presidential election, including contacts between Trump's team and people close to Vladimir Putin. From Trump's perspective, it made sense to can Comey because he thought it would mean one less problem for him. Unfortunately for Trump, however, the FBI director had written up notes after a meeting with Trump indicating the president had requested he suspend the investigation.

Three days before Trump departed on his trip, came the news of the appointment of a special counsel to conduct the investigation. The pressure on the president was increasing by the day. That was the background to this trip.


Washington Post, Sunday, May 21, Page 1: 
 
'A GOP congressman from Kentucky wonders: Is 'this Trump thing' sustainable?'
 
Trump -- a well-known critic of Islam -- planned to give a speech in Riyadh outlining his approach to the religion. First, though, came the banquet and the appearances -- as though in a theater -- of the secondary characters in this drama. Stephen Bannon, Trump's chief ideologist, sauntered through a side door into the auditorium of the King Abdullah Conference Center. He was followed by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the glamorous couple. Then came Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer, a tragicomic figure if there ever was one -- half liar and half court jester.

People reveal a lot about themselves when they enter a room that isn't familiar to them. Spicer's eyes were glassy and peering out at a middle distance. He held onto a black folder with several documents protruding from it. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner resembled Hugo Boss models as they floated by.

The only person who appeared to be looking around with interest was Bannon, the man whose radicalism helped Trump win the election -- and on whom Trump has soured, as has been the fate of so many others.

Trump thrives on chaos. His preferred working method is to have a dozen staffers in the Oval Office who he can summon or kick out at any time, like a petty king. No one is safe from his rage, not Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and not National Security Adviser Herbert Raymond McMaster, who also traveled with the delegation. Trump enjoys having people fight for his favor, even during this trip. And soon, Bannon would no longer be part of his traveling entourage.

Back in the conference center, though, his eyes were roaming across the white tables, where diplomats and leaders from Muslim countries were sitting in front of gold plates, silver bowls of chicken, roasted vegetables, rice in grape leaves, figs, tartlets and chocolate. All around the room, men could be seen in white robes, but there were no women at all. Bannon had paved the way for Trump's "America First" strategy, and now, here he was, the White House's most adamant hater of Islam, right in the heart of the Muslim world.


'Not a Hint of a Protester'
 
He could see the Koran surahs on the walls, crystal chandeliers as heavy as small cars and the dome in the center. The expression on his face said: What the hell am I doing here?

Trump is not the first president to have sought refuge by traveling abroad. In 1974, Richard Nixon also traveled to Saudi Arabia and Israel in order to temporarily escape the Watergate scandal. The trip had been intended as a way to divert attention and present Nixon as a dignified statesman. But the plan failed miserably and he resigned not long after his return.

Trump was then invited up to the stage, where a number of men were seated in leather chairs. They included kings, princes, emirs and even a few democrats from 50 different countries in the Muslim world. A frown crept onto Trump's face and his shoulders slouched forward. That morning at 9 a.m., he'd had a meeting with the King of Bahrain, followed by one with the Emir of Qatar. There were smiles, handshakes and small talk, something Trump hates. "Love your shoes. Boy, those shoes.

Man," Trump told Egypt's president.

For trip preparation's, Trump had relied more heavily than ever on his son-in-law. For months, Kushner had been in close contact with the Saudi royal house. He had worked almost obsessively to ensure that his father-in-law's trip would be a success and to avoid the impression that it was a pleasure trip. In March, Kushner had invited the deputy crown prince to the White House. The prince now returned the favor with an opulent dinner in Riyadh.

Trump got up from his chair to give a speech on Islam, a rhetorical tight rope act. On one hand, he had to cater to a subset of people back in the United States who hate the Muslim religion. On the other, he had to avoid alienating Arabs with whom he would like to do business.

Stephen Miller, a 31-year-old adviser to Trump who, together with Bannon, had planned and implemented the entry ban for Muslims, wrote the speech. The big question had been whether or not Miller would be able to include the term "Islamist terrorism." The term irks many Muslims because it directly ties their religion with terrorism. Kushner and McMaster also opposed using it.

Although he said he was not there to lecture, Trump did say that Muslim nations "must be willing to take on the burden, if we are going to defeat terrorism." He also sharply criticized Iran, a country that has just re-elected moderate President Hassan Rohani. Trump spoke of a "battle between good and evil." Then he said that "Islamist extremism" must be confronted. The fact that he avoided the formulation the hardliners had wanted indicated that he was seeking to strike a milder tone.

The most surprising thing about Trump's speech was its harmlessness. He emphasized the war on terror and sought to build trust. George W. Bush could have given the same speech. The problem is that for every sentence uttered by Trump, you can find a polar opposite statement from the campaign trail. In Riyadh, he described Islam as "one of the great faiths." But last year, speaking of the United States, he said, "Islam hates us." That's indicative not of fickleness, but of a lack of interest in politics.

The fact that Trump is leading an administration centered around his family is something that appeals to people in the Persian Gulf. The Saudis value the fact that the new American president isn't as bothered by human rights as some of his predecessors. Trump needed success and the leaders in the Gulf region have money. In the end, he left with $110 billion in defense contracts in his hands. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also promised to provide $100 million for Ivanka Trump's proposed Women Entrepreneurs Fund, which is to be administered by the World Bank.

The visit went excellently. "Not a single hint of a protester," Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said, pleased. The fact that protests are prohibited in Saudi Arabia didn't even seem to cross his mind.


New York Times, Monday, May 22, Page 1: 

'Comey Drama'
 
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin laughed as Trump descended the gangway in Tel Aviv. "We are happy to see that America is back in the area," he said. Many of Rivlin's compatriots have not forgotten how, during his first visit to the Middle East as president, Obama visited Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but snubbed Israel.

During the trip, a change became palpable in Trump. He appeared to become more secure and more disciplined -- and he held back any possible outbursts, initially at least. Instead of the threats he often tweets out, this time he stuck to links to his speeches. His advisers seem to have him under better control when traveling. Besides, to this point, he had largely been well-received with little criticism, aside from a few newspaper editorials that criticized his weapons deals and what they saw as his excessive closeness with the Saudi ruling family.

But when he spoke, Trump's voice sounded is if he were on Valium. It wasn't that long ago that he criticized Obama for using a teleprompter, saying nobody wanted a scripted president. But it is Trump who is the teleprompter man now -- and he seldom goes off script.

Regardless, even if his staff is learning from his mistakes, they still haven't succeeded in making Trump eloquent. After his short tour through the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, he wrote in the guestbook: "So amazing & will never forget!" It's something he could have written of a visit to Disneyland.


Breaking News, Politico, Tuesday, May 24:
 
'Former FBI Director John Brennan: Russia may have successfully recruited Trump campaign aides.'

The Palestinians also know how to win Trump over. Like the Saudis, they hung up huge banners prior to the U.S. president's visit showing him and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas flanking the slogan: "The city of peace welcomes the man of peace." They were clearly visible to Trump as he drove in his convoy to Bethlehem, past a wall of the kind he would like to build on the American border with Mexico. Once in the city, he visited the Church of the Nativity and announced his intention to help the Palestinians boost their economy and combat terrorism.

The afternoon found him, arms crossed, on a podium in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was standing at the lectern next to him, gushing with praise for his new friend, but Trump seemed absent. He turned his head from side to side, squinted into the audience and rocked back and forth in his chair. The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile, which vanished just as suddenly as it had appeared. As always happens when he is forced to sit by as attention is lavished elsewhere, Trump was getting restive. He tapped his fingertips together and looked as though he had to exert significant amounts of self-control to prevent himself from jumping up and shoving Netanyahu aside.

When it was finally his turn to step up to the microphone, Trump's agitation disappeared. He expressed gratitude for the Israeli premier's hospitality, saying we had "a very unforgettable dinner. We had a great time. We talked about a lot of very, very important things." He added that the bond between the U.S. and Israel was "unshakable" -- and was forced to pause several times during his speech because of the applause.

Trump and his delegation didn't make the preparations for this stage of his journey easy. First, it was announced that Trump would speak at Masada, the historic Jewish fortress on the Dead Sea. But when it became clear that he would be unable to land at the site in his helicopter, the visit was called off, apparently because Trump didn't want to have to ride in the cable car to the mountaintop citadel.

Later, the Americans abruptly cancelled a dinner that the Israeli defense minister had planned for Monday. And then it emerged that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had had to order his cabinet to appear on the tarmac for the arrival of Air Force One after some members had indicated they would not attend.

Back in the museum, Trump said that the Palestinians were ready for peace. "I know you've heard it before. I am telling you -- that's what I do. They are ready to reach for peace." Suddenly, the audience wasn't clapping quite as enthusiastically as it had been before. The appearance demonstrated just how dependent Trump is on applause, how eagerly he laps up approval. He is almost like a junkie whose euphoria and pleasure at the apex of his high knows no bounds, but once it quickly begins to fade, he immediately needs a new fix.

What, though, is the mood like on board Air Force One? "Good," says the Los Angeles Times.

"Okay," says Reuters.

A dozen reporters have been allowed to ride along in the president's official plane, the so-called pool, which includes news agencies and the largest newspapers and television channels. The rest of the press travels ahead in a chartered plane, in which there is a clear pecking order. In the front the plane to the left of the aisle, correspondents from CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox News and CNN can be found. On the right are the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, AFP, AP and Reuters. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the deputy White House press secretary, usually sits in seat 4D, across from the restroom and next to the Bloomberg correspondent. Sean Spicer is traveling on Air Force One. Everybody else has seats further back, including Sky News, Politico and Vanity Fair, along with technicians, camera operators and foreign media representatives. The costs for the charter are divided up among the journalists, with everybody paying the same price regardless of where they sit.


Fantastic for Sales
 
Attitudes toward Trump on board range between skepticism and hostility. The prevailing view seems to be that, for democracy, the administration is a catastrophe, but from a journalistic perspective, it is a fantastic story, measurable in rising click rates, circulation and television ratings. Indeed, the New York Times had its best quarter in years at the end of 2016, with over 276,000 new digital subscriptions. Trump is fantastic for sales.

The problem is that most of the journalists traveling along with Trump hardly ever get any facetime with the president. Those who aren't part of the 13-member media pool that constantly accompanies Trump sit in a windowless press room and watch CNN or read Twitter, along with the summaries of fellow reporters who are closer to the action. They only realize they are in a different country when the hotel personnel greet them with "buon giorno" instead of "salam aleikum."

On one evening at about 10 p.m., a young man stuck his head through the door of the hotel press room. He was wearing a perfectly cut suit and looked as though he had just stepped out of an ice bath following two hours of ab training. "Hey guys, how are you? Still jetlagged?" Jared Kushner asked. "How's the trip so far? Are you enjoying it?"

He then spoke of short-term and long-term possibilities, ambitious goals and paradigm shifts in the Middle East. He sounded like his own Power Point presentation. Leaning against the wall to the right was Ivanka Trump, clutching her handbag. After about 10 minutes, she gave a thumb's up, the Trump family's favorite gesture, and disappeared with Jared into the night.

Donald Trump is a creation of the media age: Without journalists and television, he would never have become famous and likely would not have ascended to the presidency. As a result, Trump's relationship to the media is obsessive. It is his mirror, into which he gazes several times each day, his echo chamber, the justification for his existence. He watches a lot of television, showing a distinct preference for Fox News, and reads newspapers primarily to confirm his suspicion that they write nothing but tripe.

Trump's White House predecessors used to hold regular press conferences during extended trips to keep journalists informed. But Trump's team has decided that the risk is too great that their boss might lose his temper in the face of an uncomfortable question. Breitbart and other right-wing news outlets that are fans of Trump, after all, remained at home in the United States. Softball questions wouldn't be likely.


New York Times, Wednesday, May 24: 
 
'Top Russian Officials Discussed How to Influence Trump Aides Last Summer'
 
And then she did it again. As Melania Trump stepped out of Air Force One at her husband's side in Rome, she pulled her hand away from him just as she had done in Tel Aviv. It looked as though she was trying to avoid holding hands with the president. It was just a brief scene, lasting hardly even a second, and it wasn't even particularly noticeable.

But the First Lady usually exhibits impeccable self-control. It seems unlikely that she simply forgot that half the world was watching. Perhaps it was intentional, a signal to demonstrate that she isn't the kind of woman who can be ordered around. But her husband won't likely have been particularly pleased by such images. Still, the trip had gone largely according to plan to that point. The Saudi Arabians were taken by the first lady's dignified demeanor and, of course, by the fact that she constantly remained in the background and left the stage to her husband. Her appearance in a dress that was rather short for Saudi tastes seemed of little concern.

During the visit to Pope Francis, however, Melania wore a black veil over her hair, making her look like a widow attending her deceased husband's funeral. And the pope wore a facial expression as though he were standing across from the devil incarnate. It was just Donald Trump. It was the moment at which the president must have realized that the pleasant, uncomplicated portion of his trip had come to an end. Now, he was in Europe, and he could no longer be sure that everybody he met actually liked him. Not after the campaign he ran and not after the delight he expressed following last year's Brexit referendum.

Trump's daughter Ivanka, his son-in-law Jared Kushner and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson were also on hand for the meeting with the pope. Missing, however, was Sean Spicer, who is Catholic and who had reportedly been greatly looking forward to the opportunity to kiss the pope's ring. His absence was apparently a bit of diplomatic spitefulness on the part of the Holy See. Steve Bannon and Reine Priebus had been sent back to Washington earlier.

Pope Francis presented Trump with three books upon departure, one on family, another on the joy of the gospel and, finally, a copy of his 2015 encyclical on the need for urgent measures to combat climate change. "Well, I'll be reading them," said Trump, a man who has bragged in the past of having only ever read a single book to completion in his life -- his own.

How was your meeting with the pope, Mr. President? an AP journalist called out to him during a photo op. "He is something," Trump replied. "We had a fantastic meeting."


Report on CNN.com, Thursday, May 25:
 
'AG Sessions did not disclose Russia meetings in security clearance form, DOJ says.'
On Thursday morning, Trump arrived at a place he never wanted to be. He climbed out of his armored Cadillac and stepped into the 320-million-euro Europa Building in Brussels, where the European Council meets -- the heart of the EU. His trip back to reality was now complete, following his brief excursion to the Orient, where people received him as a savior -- or at least as someone who could sell high-quality weapons of war.

Trump was there for a meeting with Council President Donald Tusk and Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, held in a nondescript conference room. The two Europeans were eager to elaborate to Trump on how they see the world and the trio talked for three-quarters of an hour behind closed doors. Later, Tusk would say that there was broad agreement on many issues, but he added: "I'm not 100 percent sure that we can say today -- we, meaning Mr. President and myself -- that we have a common position, common opinion about Russia." He said that he had wanted to deliver a message to Trump, that the friendship between Europe and the U.S. is based on values such as freedom, human rights and the respect for human dignity. It was a diplomatic slap in the face, similar to the one German Chancellor Angela Merkel had delivered shortly after Trump's election.

Afterward, Trump joined newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron, of all people, for lunch. Trump, after all, had seemed to support Macron's opponent, right-wing populist Marine Le Pen, in the election. When the two men shook hands for a closing photo op, the Frenchman grabbed Trump's hand and squeezed hard. Trump squeezed back. For a moment, they looked like opponents locked in a wrestling match. Trump wanted to let go, but Macron squeezed even harder until his knuckles turned white.

Not long later, the two met again for the opening ceremony of NATO's new headquarters. Behind him was a piece of twisted metal from the World Trade Center while next to him stood Angela Merkel.

While Merkel gave a ceremonious speech about the historical importance of NATO, Trump spoke again about alliance funding -- about the "massive amounts of money" that 23 of the 28 NATO member states allegedly owe the United States. He then said: "I never asked once what the new NATO headquarters cost. I refuse to do that. But it is beautiful." The others stood next to him like schoolchildren. Merkel repeatedly looked at the ground while Macron grinned. The applause was reserved. To make sure that he was in the front row for the joint photo following the event, Trump rudely shoved aside the prime minister of Montenegro.

The leaders then enjoyed a meal together before Trump flew onward to Sicily in the evening for the G-7 summit starting on Friday. Prior to departure, Trump received word that a U.S. federal appeals court had refused to lift a temporary block on his revised travel ban for Muslims.

It was a reminder that he really can't get home quickly enough. There is plenty to do in Washington.

President Obama Delivers Remarks at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Thank you so much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Thank you very much.  Please, please have a seat.  Thank you.  (Applause.)

     AUDIENCE MEMBER:  Chicago!

     PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Chicago — (laughter.)

Hello, Greece!  (Applause.)  Yia sas!  Kalispera!  To the government and the people of Greece — including Prime Minister Tsipras, who I thank for his partnership and for being here, along with so many young people, the future of Greece — I want to thank you for your warm and generous welcome.

As many of you know, this is my final trip overseas as President of the United States, and I was determined, on my last trip, to come to Greece — partly because I’ve heard about the legendary hospitality of the Greek people — your philoxenia.  (Applause.)  Partly because I had to see the Acropolis and the Parthenon.  But also because I came here with gratitude for all that Greece — “this small, great world” — has given to humanity through the ages.

Our hearts have been moved by the tragedies of Aeschylus and Euripides.  Our minds have been opened by the histories of Herodotus and Thucydides.  Our understanding of the world and our place in it has been expanded by Socrates and Aristotle.

In the United States, we’re especially grateful for the friendship of so many proud Greek Americans.  In my hometown of Chicago — (applause) — you can find them in Greektown, with their foustanellas.  (Laughter.)  And together, we’ve celebrated Greek Independence Day at the White House.  We’ve had some spanakopita and some ouzo.  (Laughter.)  Greek Americans have worn the uniform to keep our country free.  Greek Americans have marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to make us more just.  Greek or American, we’re all cheering for Giannis Antetokounmpo — (applause) — who seems to be getting better each year.  And if anyone seeks an example of our shared spirit, our resilience, they need look no further than New York City, near Ground Zero, where the Greek Orthodox church of St. Nicholas, once in ruins, is now rising again.

Most of all, we’re indebted to Greece for the most precious of gifts — the truth, the understanding that as individuals of free will, we have the right and the capacity to govern ourselves.  (Applause.)  For it was here, 25 centuries ago, in the rocky hills of this city, that a new idea emerged.  Demokratia.  (Applause.)  Kratos — the power, the right to rule — comes from demos — the people.  The notion that we are citizens — not servants, but stewards of our society.  The concept of citizenship — that we have both rights and responsibilities.  The belief in equality before the law — not just for a few, but for the many; not just for the majority, but also the minority.  These are all concepts that grew out of this rocky soil.

Of course, the earliest forms of democracy here in Athens were far from perfect — just as the early forms of democracy in the United States were far from perfect.  The rights of ancient Athens were not extended to women or to slaves.  But Pericles explained, “our constitution favors the many instead of the few…this is why it is called a democracy.”

Athenians also knew that, however noble, ideas alone were not enough.  To have meaning, principles must be enshrined in laws and protected by institutions, and advanced through civic participation.  And so they gathered in a great assembly to debate and decide affairs of state, each citizen with the right to speak, casting their vote with a show of hands, or choosing a pebble — white for yes, black for no.  Laws were etched in stone for all to see and abide by.  Courts, with citizen jurors, upheld that rule of law.

Politicians weren’t always happy because sometimes the stones could be used to ostracize, banish those who did not behave themselves.

But across the millennia that followed, different views of power and governance have often prevailed.  Throughout human history, there have been those who argue that people cannot handle democracy, that they cannot handle self-determination, they need to be told what to do.  A ruler has to maintain order through violence or coercion or an iron fist.  There’s been a different concept of government that says might makes right, or that unchecked power can be passed through bloodlines.  There’s been the belief that some are superior by virtue of race or faith or ethnicity, and those beliefs so often have been used to justify conquest and exploitation and war.

But through all this history, the flame first lit here in Athens never died.  It was ultimately nurtured by a great Enlightenment.  It was fanned by America’s founders, who declared that “We, the People” shall rule; that all men are created equal and endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights.

Now, at times, even today, those ideals are challenged.  We’ve been told that these are Western ideals.  We’ve been told that some cultures are not equipped for democratic governance and actually prefer authoritarian rule.  And I will say that after eight years of being President of the United States, having traveled around the globe, it is absolutely true that every country travels its own path, every country has its own traditions.  But what I also believe, after eight years, is that the basic longing to live with dignity, the fundamental desire to have control of our lives and our future, and to want to be a part of determining the course of our communities and our nations — these yearnings are universal.  They burn in every human heart.

It’s why a Greek bishop atop a mountain raised the flag of independence.  It’s why peoples from the Americas to Africa to Asia threw off the yoke of colonialism.  It’s why people behind an Iron Curtain marched in Solidarity, and tore down that wall, and joined you in a great union of democracies.  It’s why, today, we support the right of Ukrainians to choose their own destiny; why we partner with Tunisians and the people of Myanmar as they make historic transitions to democracy.

This has been my foreign policy during my presidency.  By necessity, we work with all countries, and many of them are not democracies.  Some of them are democracies in the sense they have elections, but not democracies in the sense of actually permitting participation and dissent.  But our trajectory as a country has been to support the efforts of those who believe in self-governance, who believe in those ideas that began here so many years ago.

And it is not simply a matter of us being true to our values.  It’s not just a matter of idealism.  I believe it is practical for the United States to support democracies.  (Applause.)  Because history shows us that countries with democratic governance tend to be more just, and more stable, and more successful.

Open, democratic societies can deliver more prosperity –because when people are free to think for themselves and share ideas and discover and create — the young people who are here, what they’re able to do through the Internet and technology, that’s when innovation is unleashed, when economies truly flourish.  That’s when new products, and new services, and new ideas wash through an economy.  In contrast to regimes that rule by coercion, democracies are rooted in consent of the governed

— citizens know that there’s a path for peaceful change, including the moral force of nonviolence.  And that brings a stability that so often can facilitate economic growth.

The history of the past two centuries indicates that democracies are less likely to fight wars among themselves.  So more democracy is good for the people of the world, but it’s also good for our national security.  Which is why America’s closest friends are democracies — like Greece.  It’s why we stand together in NATO — an alliance of democracies.

In recent years, we’ve made historic investments in NATO, increased America’s presence in Europe, and today’s NATO — the world’s greatest alliance — is as strong and as ready as it’s ever been.  And I am confident that just as America’s commitment to the transatlantic alliance has endured for seven decades –whether it’s been under a Democratic or Republican administration — that commitment will continue, including our pledge and our treaty obligation to defend every ally.

Our democracies show that we’re stronger than terrorists, and fundamentalists, and absolutists who can’t tolerate difference, can’t tolerate ideas that vary from their own, who try to change people’s way of life through violence and would make us betray or shrink from our values.  Democracy is stronger than organizations like ISIL.

Because our democracies are inclusive, we’re able to welcome people and refugees in need to our countries.  And nowhere have we seen that compassion more evident than here in Greece.  (Applause.)  The Greek people’s generosity towards refugees arriving on your shores has inspired the world.  That doesn’t mean that you should be left on your own — (applause)

— and only a truly collective response by Europe and the world can ensure that these desperate people receive the support that they need.  Greece cannot be expected to bear the bulk of the burden alone — but the fact that your democracy opens your heart to people in need in a way that might not otherwise be the case.

Just as democracies are premised on the peaceful resolution of disagreements within our societies, we also believe that cooperation and dialogue is the best way to address challenges between nations.  And so it is my belief that democracies are more likely to try to resolve conflicts between nations in a way that does not result in war.  That’s how, with diplomacy, we were able to shut down Iran’s nuclear weapons program without firing a shot.  With diplomacy, the United States opened relations with Cuba.  (Applause.)  With diplomacy, we joined Greece and nearly 200 nations in the most ambitious agreement ever to save our planet from climate change.  (Applause.)

And speaking of climate change, I would point out that there is a connection between democracy and science.  The premise of science is that we observe and we test our hypotheses, our ideas.  We base decisions on facts, not superstition; not what our ideology tells us, but rather what we can observe.  And at a time when the globe is shrinking and more and more we’re going to have to take collective action to deal with problems like climate change, the presence of a democratic debate allows the science to flourish and to shape our collective responses.

Now, democracy, like all human institutions, is imperfect.  It can be slow; it can be frustrating; it can be hard; it can be messy.  Politicians tend to be unpopular in democracies, regardless of party, because, by definition, democracies require that you don’t get a hundred percent of what you want.  It requires compromise.  Winston Churchill famously said that democracy is the worst form of government — except for all the others.  (Laughter.)  And in a multiethnic, multiracial, multicultural society, like the United States, democracy can be especially complicated.  Believe me, I know.  (Laughter.)

But it is better than the alternatives because it allows us to peacefully work through our differences and move closer to our ideals.  It allows us to test new ideas and it allows us to correct for mistakes.  Any action by a President, or any result of an election, or any legislation that has proven flawed can be corrected through the process of democracy.

And throughout our history, it’s how we have come to see that all people are created equal — even though, when we were founded, that was not the case.  We could work to expand the rights that were established in our founding to African Americans, and to women, to Americans with disabilities, to Native Americans; why all Americans now have the freedom to marry the person they love.  (Applause.)  It’s why we welcome people of all races and all religions and all backgrounds, and immigrants who strive to give their children a better life and who make our country stronger.

And so here, where democracy was born, we affirm once more the rights and the ideals and the institutions upon which our way of life endures.  Freedom of speech and assembly — because true legitimacy can only come from the people, who must never be silenced.  A free press to expose injustice and corruption and hold leaders accountable.  Freedom of religion — because we’re all equal in the eyes of God.  Independent judiciaries to uphold rule of law and human rights.  Separation of powers to limit the reach of any one branch of government.  Free and fair elections — because citizens must be able to choose their own leaders, even if your candidate doesn’t always win.  (Laughter.)

We compete hard in campaigns in America and here in Greece.  But after the election, democracy depends on a peaceful transition of power, especially when you don’t get the result you want.  (Applause.)

And as you may have noticed, the next American president and I could not be more different.  (Applause.)  We have very different points of view, but American democracy is bigger than any one person.  (Applause.)  That’s why we have a tradition of the outgoing president welcoming the new one in — as I did last week.  And why, in the coming weeks, my administration will do everything we can to support the smoothest transition possible

— because that’s how democracy has to work.  (Applause.)

And that’s why, as hard as it can be sometimes, it’s important for young people, in particular, who are just now becoming involved in the lives of their countries, to understand that progress follows a winding path — sometimes forward, sometimes back — but as long as we retain our faith in democracy, as long as we retain our faith in the people, as long as we don’t waver from those central principles that ensure a lively, open debate, then our future will be okay, because it remains the most effective form of government ever devised by man.

It is true, of course, over the last several years that we’ve seen democracies faced with serious challenges.  And I want to mention two that have an impact here in Greece, haven an impact in the United States, and are having an impact around the world.

The first involves the paradox of a modern, global economy.  The same forces of globalization and technology and integration that have delivered so much progress, have created so much wealth, have also revealed deep fault lines.  Around the world, integration and closer cooperation, and greater trade and commerce, and the Internet — all have improved the lives of billions of people — lifted families from extreme poverty, cured diseases, helped people live longer, gave them more access to education and opportunity than at any time in human history.

I’ve often said to young people in the United States, if you had to choose a moment in history to be born, and you did not know ahead of time who you would be — you didn’t know whether you were going to be born into a wealthy family or a poor family, what country you’d be born, whether you were going to be a man or a woman — if you had to choose blindly what moment you’d want to be born you’d choose now.  Because the world has never, collectively, been wealthier, better educated, healthier, less violent than it is today.  That’s hard to imagine, given what we see in the news, but it’s true.  And a lot of that has to do with the developments of a integrated, global economy.

But trends underway for decades have meant that in many countries and in many communities there have been enormous disruptions.  Technology and automation mean that goods can be produced with fewer workers.  It means jobs and manufacturing can move across borders where wages are lower or rights are less protected.  And that means that workers and unions oftentimes have less leverage to bargain for better wages, better benefits, have more difficulty competing in the global marketplace. Hardworking families worry their kids may not be better off than they were because of this global competition.

What we’ve also seen is that this global integration is increasing the tendencies towards inequality, both between nations and within nations, at an accelerated pace.  And when we see people — global elites, wealthy corporations — seemingly living by a different set of rules, avoiding taxes, manipulating loopholes — when the rich and the powerful appear to game the system and accumulate vast wealth while middle and working-class families struggle to make ends meet, this feeds a profound sense of injustice and a feeling that our economies are increasingly unfair.

This inequality now constitutes one of the greatest challenges to our economies and to our democracies.  An inequality that was once tolerated because people didn’t know how unequal things were now won’t be tolerated because everybody has a cellphone and can see how unequal things are.  The awareness that people have in the smallest African village, they can see how people in London or New York are living.  The poorest child in any of our countries now has a sense of what other people have that they don’t.  So not only is there increasing inequality, but also there is greater awareness of inequality.  And that’s a volatile mix for our democracies.

And this is why addressing inequality has been one of the key areas of focus for my economic policy.  In our countries, in America and in most advanced market economies, we want people to be rewarded for their achievement.  We think that people should be rewarded if they come up with a new product or a new service that is popular and helps a lot of people.  But when a CEO of a company now makes more money in a single day than a typical worker does in an entire year, when it’s harder for workers to climb their way up the economic ladder, when they see a factory close that used to support an entire city or town, fuels the feeling that globalization only benefits those at the top.  And the reaction can drag down a country’s growth and make recessions more likely.  It can also lead to politics that create an unhealthy competition between countries.  Rather than a win-win situation, people perceive that if you’re winning, I’m losing, and barriers come up and walls come up.

And in advanced economies, there are at times movements from both the left and the right to put a stop to integration, and to push back against technology, and to try to bring back jobs and industries that have been disappearing for decades.  So this impulse to pull back from a globalized world is understandable.  If people feel that they’re losing control of their future, they will push back.  We have seen it here in Greece.  We’ve seen it across Europe.  We’ve seen it in the United States.  We saw it in the vote in Britain to leave the EU.

But given the nature of technology, it is my assertion that it’s not possible to cut ourselves off from one another.  We now are living in a global supply chain.  Our growth comes through innovation and ideas that are crossing borders all the time.  The jobs of tomorrow will inevitably be different from the jobs of the past.  So we can’t look backwards for answers, we have to look forward.

We cannot sever the connections that have enabled so much progress and so much wealth.  For when competition for resources is perceived as zero-sum, we put ourselves on a path to conflict both within countries and between countries.  So I firmly believe that the best hope for human progress remains open markets combined with democracy and human rights.  But I have argued that the current path of globalization demands a course correction.  In the years and decades ahead, our countries have to make sure that the benefits of an integrated global economy are more broadly shared by more people, and that the negative impacts are squarely addressed.  (Applause.)

And we actually know the path to building more inclusive economies.  It’s just we too often don’t have the political will or desire to get it done.  We know we need bold policies that spur growth and support jobs.  We know that we need to give workers more leverage and better wages, and that, in fact, if you give workers better wages businesses do better, too, because their customers now have money to spend.

We know that we have to invest more in our people — the education of our young people, the skills and training to compete in the global economy.  We have to make sure that it is easy for young people who are eager to learn and eager to work to get the education that they need, the training that they need, without taking on huge amounts of debt.

We know that we have to encourage entrepreneurship so that it’s easier to start a business and do business.  (Applause.)   We know that we have to strengthen the social compact so that the safety net that is available for people, including quality health care and retirement benefits, are there even if people aren’t working in the same job for 30 years, or 40 years, or 50 years.

We have to modernize our infrastructure, which will put people back to work.  We have to commit to the science and research and development that sparks new industries.

In our trading relationships, we have to make sure that trade works for us, and not against us.  And that means insisting on high standards in all countries to support jobs, strong protections for workers, strong protections for the environment, so that even as we freely trade, people and workers in all countries see the benefits of trade in their own lives, not just benefits for the bottom line of large, multinational corporations.

These are the kinds of policies, this is the work that I’ve pursued throughout my time as President.  Keep in mind I took office in the midst of the worst crisis since the Great Depression.  And we pursued a recovery that has been shared now by the vast majority of Americans.  We put people back to work building bridges and roads.  (Applause.)  We passed tax cuts for the middle class.  We asked the wealthiest Americans to pay a little more taxes — their fair share.  We intervened to save our auto industry, but insisted that the auto industry become more energy efficient, produce better cars that reduce pollution.

We put in place policies to help students with loans and protect consumers from fraud.  We passed the strongest Wall Street reforms in history so that the excesses and abuses that triggered the global financial crisis never happen again — or at least don’t start on Wall Street.

And today, our businesses have created more than 15 million new jobs.  Incomes last year in America rose faster than any time since 1968.  Poverty fell at the fastest rate since 1968.  Inequality is being narrowed.  And we’ve also begun to close the pay gap between men and women.

We declared that health care in America is a privilege not for the few, but a right for everybody.  Today our uninsured rate is at the lowest levels on record.  And we’ve done all this while doubling our production of clean energy, lowering our carbon pollution faster than any advanced nation.  So we’ve proven that you can grow the economy and reduce the carbon emissions that cause climate change at the same time.  (Applause.)

Now, I say all this not because we’ve solved every problem.  Our work is far from complete.  There are still too many people in America who are worried about their futures.  Still too many people who are working at wages that don’t get them above the poverty line.  Still too many young people who don’t see opportunity.  But the policies I describe point the direction for where we need to go in building inclusive economies.  And that’s how democracies can deliver the prosperity and hope that our people need.  And when people have opportunity and they feel confidence the future, they are less likely to turn on each other and they’re less likely to appeal to some of the darker forces that exist in all our societies — those that can tear us apart.

Here in Greece, you’re undergoing similar transformations.  The first step has been to build a foundation that allows you to return to robust economic growth.  And we don’t need to recount all the causes of the economic crisis here in Greece.  If we’re honest, we can acknowledge that it was a mix of both internal and external forces.  The Greek economy and the level of debt had become unsustainable.  And in this global economy, investment and jobs flow to countries where governments are efficient, not bloated, where the rules are clear.  To stay competitive, to attract investment that creates jobs, Greece had to start a reform process.

Of course, the world, I don’t think, fully appreciates the extraordinary pain these reforms have involved, or the tremendous sacrifices that you, the Greek people, have made.  I’ve been aware of it, and I’ve been proud of all that my administration has done to try to support Greece in these efforts.  (Applause.)  And part of the purpose of my visit is to highlight for the world the important steps that have been taken here in Greece.

Today, the budget is back in surplus.  Parliament passed reforms to make the economy more competitive.  Yes, there is still much more work to do.  I want to commend Prime Minister Tsipras for the very difficult reforms his government is pursuing to put the economy on a firmer footing.  Now, as Greece works to attract more investment, and to prevent old imbalances from re-emerging, and to put your economy on a stronger foundation, you’ll continue to have the full support of the United States.

At the same time, I will continue to urge creditors to take the steps needed to put Greece on a path towards sustained economic recovery.  (Applause.)  As Greece continues to implement reforms, the IMF has said that debt relief will be crucial to get Greece back to growth.  They are right.  It is important because if reforms here are going to be sustained, people need to see hope, and they need to see progress.  And the young people who are in attendance here today and all across the country need to know there is a future — there is an education and jobs that are worthy of your incredible potential.  You don’t have to travel overseas, you can put roots right here in your home, in Greece, and succeed.  (Applause.)

And I’m confident that if you stay the course, as hard as it has been, Greece will see brighter days.  Because, in this magnificent hall and center — this symbol of the Greek culture and resilience — we’re reminded that just as your strength and resolve have allowed you to overcome great odds throughout your history, nothing can break the spirit of the Greek people.  You will overcome this period of challenge just as you have other challenges in the past.

So economics is something that will be central to preserving our democracies.  When our economies don’t work, our democracies become distorted and, in some cases, break down.  But this brings me to another pressing challenge that our democracies face — how do we ensure that our diverse, multicultural, multiracial, multi-religious world and our diverse nations uphold both the rights of individuals and a fundamental civic adherence to a common creed that binds us together.

     Democracy is simplest where everybody thinks alike, looks alike, eats the same food, worships the same God.  Democracy becomes more difficult when there are people coming from a variety of backgrounds and trying to live together.  In our globalized world, with the migration of people and the rapid movement of ideas and cultures and traditions, we see increasingly this blend of forces mixing together in ways that often enrich our societies but also cause tensions.

     In the Information Age, the unprecedented exchange of information can always accentuate differences, or seem to threaten cherished ways of life.  It used to be that you might not know how people in another part of your country, or in the cities versus the countryside, were living.  Now everybody knows how everybody is living, and everybody can feel threatened sometimes if people don’t do things exactly the way they do things.  And they start asking themselves questions about their own identity.  And it can create a volatile politics.

     Faced with this new reality where cultures clash, it’s inevitable that some will seek a comfort in nationalism or tribe or ethnicity or sect.  In countries that are held together by borders that were drawn by colonial powers, including many countries in the Middle East and in Africa, it can be tempting to fall back on perceived safety of enclaves and tribal divisions.

     In a world of widening inequality, there’s a growing suspicion — or even disdain — for elites and institutions that seem remote from the daily lives of ordinary people.  What an irony it is, at a time when we can reach out to people in the most remote corners of the planet, so many citizens feel disconnected from their own governments.

     So, just as we have to have an inclusive economic strategy, we have to have an exclusive political and cultural strategy.  In all of our capitals, we have to keep making government more efficient, more effective in responding to the daily needs to citizens.  Governing institutions, whether in Athens, Brussels, London, Washington, have to be responsive to the concerns of citizens.  People have to know that they’re being heard.

     Here in Europe, even with today’s challenges, I believe that by virtue of the progress it has delivered over the decades — the stability it has provided, the security it’s reinforced

— that European integration and the European Union remains one of the great political and economic achievements of human history.  (Applause.)  And today more than ever, the world needs a Europe that is strong and prosperous and democratic.

     But I think all institutions in Europe have to ask themselves:  How can we make sure that people within individual countries feel as if their voices are still being heard, that their identities are being affirmed, that the decisions that are being made that will have a critical impact on their lives are not so remote that they have no ability to impact them?

     We have to make clear that governments exist to serve the interest of citizens, and not the other way around.  And so this is why, as President of the United States, I’ve pursued initiatives like the Open Government Partnership that promotes transparency and accountability so that ordinary people know more about the decisions that affect their lives.  That’s why both at home and around the world, we have taken steps to fight corruption that can rot a society from within.

     As authoritarian governments work to close space that citizens depend upon to organize and have their voices heard, we’ve begun the work of empowering civil society to defend democratic values and promote solutions to the problems within our communities.  And as so many people around the world sometimes are tempted by cynicism and not being involved because they think that politicians and government don’t care about them, we’ve created networks for young leaders and invested in young entrepreneurs, because we believe that the hope and renewal of our societies begins with the voices of youth.  (Applause.)

     In closing, our globalized world is passing through a time of profound change.  Yes, there is uncertainty and there is unease, and none of us can know the future.  History does not move in a straight line.  Civil rights in America did not move in a straight line.  Democracy in Greece did not move in a straight line.  The evolution of a unified Europe certainly has not moved in a straight line.  And progress is never a guarantee.  Progress has to be earned by every generation.  But I believe history gives us hope.

Twenty-five centuries after Athens first pointed the way, 250 years after the beginning of the great American journey, my faith and my confidence, my certainty in our democratic ideals and universal values remain undiminished.  I believe more strongly than ever that Dr. King was right when he said that, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”  (Applause.)  But it bends towards justice not because it is inevitable, but because we bend it towards justice; not because there are not going to be barriers to achieving justice, but because there will be people, generation after generation, who have the vision and the courage and the will to bend the arc of our lives in the direction of a better future.

In the United States, and in every place I have visited these last eight years, I have met citizens, especially young people, who have chosen hope over fear, who believe that they can shape their own destiny, who refuse to accept the world as it is and are determined to remake it as it should be.  They have inspired me.

In every corner of the world, I have met people who, in their daily lives, demonstrate that despite differences of race or religion or creed or color, we have the capacity to see each other in ourselves.  Like the woman here in Greece who said of the refugees arriving on these shores, “We live under the same sun.  We fall in love under the same moon.  We are all human — we have to help these people.”  Women like that give me hope.  (Applause.)

In all of our communities, in all of our countries, I still believe there’s more of what Greeks call philotimo — (applause) — love and respect and kindness for family and community and country, and a sense that we’re all in this together, with obligations to each other.  Philotimo — I see it every day — and that gives me hope.  (Applause.)

Because in the end, it is up to us.  It’s not somebody else’s job, it’s not somebody else’s responsibility, but it’s the citizens of our countries and citizens of the world to bend that arc of history towards justice.

And that’s what democracy allows us to do.  That’s why the most important office in any country is not president or prime minister.  The most important title is “citizen.”  (Applause.)  And in all of our nations, it will always be our citizens who decide the kind of countries we will be, the ideals that we will reach for, and the values that will define us.  In this great, imperfect, but necessary system of self-government, power and progress will always come from the demos — from “We, the people.”  And I’m confident that as long as we are true to that system of self-government, that our futures will be bright.

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Zito I ellas.  (Applause.)

President Obama in Address to the People of Europe (Video/Transcript)

Thank you so much.  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Guten tag!  It is wonderful to see all of you, and I want to begin by thanking Chancellor Merkel for being here.  (Applause.)  On behalf of the American people, I want to thank Angela for being a champion of our alliance.  And on behalf of all of us, I want to thank you for your commitment to freedom, and equality, and human rights, which is a reflection of your inspiring life.  I truly believe you’ve shown us the leadership of steady hands -- how do you call it?  The Merkel-Raute.  (Laughter.)  And over the last seven years, I have relied on your friendship and counsel, and your firm moral compass.  So we very much appreciate your Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

To the members of the Bundestag, Prime Minister Weil, Mayor Schostock, distinguished guests, people of Germany.  And I’m especially pleased to see the young people here -- from Germany and across Europe.  We also have some proud Americans here.  (Laughter and applause.)

I have to admit that I have developed a special place in my heart for the German people.  Back when I was a candidate for this office, you welcomed me with a small rally in Berlin, where I spoke of the change that’s possible when the world stands as one.  As President, you've treated me and Michelle and our daughters to wonderful hospitality.  You've offered me excellent beer -- (laughter) -- and weisswurst in Krun.  You've now hosted our delegation here in Hannover.

My only regret is that I have never been to Germany for Oktoberfest.  (Laughter.)  So I will have to come back.  And I suspect it's more fun when you're not President.  (Laughter and applause.)  So my timing will be good.  (Applause.)  

And as always, I bring the friendship of the American people.  We consider the German people, and all of our European allies, to be among our closest friends in the world -- because we share so much experience and so many of the same values.  We believe that nations and peoples should live in security and peace.  We believe in creating opportunity that lifts up not just the few but the many.  And I’m proud to be the first American President to come to Europe and be able to say that, in the United States, health care is not a privilege, it is now a right for all.  We share that as well.  (Applause.)

Perhaps most importantly, we believe in the equality and inherent dignity of every human being.  Today in America, people have the freedom to marry the person that they love.  We believe in justice, that no child in the world should ever die from a mosquito bite; that no one should suffer from the ache of an empty stomach; that, together, we can save our planet and the world’s most vulnerable people from the worst effects of climate change.  These are things that we share.  It's borne of common experience.

And this is what I want to talk to you about today -- the future that we are building together -- not separately, but together.  And that starts right here in Europe.

And I want to begin with an observation that, given the challenges that we face in the world and the headlines we see every day, may seem improbable, but it’s true.  We are fortunate to be living in the most peaceful, most prosperous, most progressive era in human history.  That may surprise young people who are watching TV or looking at your phones and it seems like only bad news comes through every day.  But consider that it’s been decades since the last war between major powers.  More people live in democracies.  We’re wealthier and healthier and better educated, with a global economy that has lifted up more than a billion people from extreme poverty, and created new middle classes from the Americas to Africa to Asia.  Think about the health of the average person in the world -- tens of millions of lives that we now save from disease and infant mortality, and people now living longer lives.  

Around the world, we’re more tolerant -- with more opportunity for women, and gays and lesbians, as we push back on bigotry and prejudice.  And around the world, there’s a new generation of young people -- like you -- that are connected by technology, and driven by your idealism and your imagination, and you're working together to start new ventures, and to hold governments more accountable, and advance human dignity.

If you had to choose a moment in time to be born, any time in human history, and you didn't know ahead of time what nationality you were or what gender or what your economic status might be, you'd choose today -- which isn't to say that there is not still enormous suffering and enormous tragedy and so much work for us to do.  It is to remember that the trajectory of our history over the last 50, 100 years has been remarkable.  And we can't take that for granted, and we should take confidence in our ability to be able to shape our own destiny.

Now, that doesn't mean that we can be complacent because today dangerous forces do threaten to pull the world backward, and our progress is not inevitable.  These challenges threaten Europe and they threaten our transatlantic community.  We're not immune from the forces of change around the world.  As they have elsewhere, barbaric terrorists have slaughtered innocent people in Paris and Brussels, and Istanbul and San Bernardino, California.  And we see these tragedies in places central to our daily lives -- an airport or café, a workplace or a theater -- and it unsettles us.  It makes us unsure in our day-to-day lives -- fearful not just for ourselves but those that we love.  Conflicts from South Sudan to Syria to Afghanistan have sent millions fleeing, seeking the relative safety of Europe’s shores, but that puts new strains on countries and local communities, and threatens to distort our politics.

Russian aggression has flagrantly violated the sovereignty and territory of an independent European nation, Ukraine, and that unnerves our allies in Eastern Europe, threatening our vision of a Europe that is whole, free and at peace.  And it seems to threaten the progress that's been made since the end of the Cold War.

Slow economic growth in Europe, especially in the south, has left millions unemployed, including a generation of young people without jobs and who may look to the future with diminishing hopes.  And all these persistent challenges have led some to question whether European integration can long endure; whether you might be better off separating off, redrawing some of the barriers and the laws between nations that existed in the 20th century.

Across our countries, including in the United States, a lot of workers and families are still struggling to recover from the worst economic crisis in generations.  And that trauma of millions who lost their jobs and their homes and their savings is still felt.  And meanwhile, there are profound trends underway that have been going on for decades -- globalization, automation that -- in some cases, of depressed wages, and made workers in a weaker position to bargain for better working conditions.  Wages have stagnated in many advanced countries while other costs have gone up.  Inequality has increased.  And for many people, it’s harder than ever just to hold on.

This is happening in Europe; we see some of these trends in the United States and across the advanced economies.  And these concerns and anxieties are real.  They are legitimate.  They cannot be ignored, and they deserve solutions from those in power.

Unfortunately, in the vacuum, if we do not solve these problems, you start seeing those who would try to exploit these fears and frustrations and channel them in a destructive way.  A creeping emergence of the kind of politics that the European project was founded to reject -- an “us” versus “them” mentality that tries to blame our problems on the other, somebody who doesn’t look like us or doesn’t pray like us -- whether it’s immigrants, or Muslims, or somebody who is deemed different than us.

And you see increasing intolerance in our politics.  And loud voices get the most attention.  This reminds me of the poem by the great Irish poet W.B. Yeats, where the best lack all conviction, and the worst are full of passionate intensity. 

So this is a defining moment.  And what happens on this continent has consequences for people around the globe.  If a unified, peaceful, liberal, pluralistic, free-market Europe begins to doubt itself, begins to question the progress that’s been made over the last several decades, then we can’t expect the progress that is just now taking hold in many places around the world will continue.  Instead, we will be empowering those who argue that democracy can’t work, that intolerance and tribalism and organizing ourselves along ethnic lines, and authoritarianism and restrictions on the press -- that those are the things that the challenges of today demand.

So I’ve come here today, to the heart of Europe, to say that the United States, and the entire world, needs a strong and prosperous and democratic and united Europe.  (Applause.)

Perhaps you need an outsider, somebody who is not European, to remind you of the magnitude of what you have achieved.  The progress that I described was made possible in large measure by ideals that originated on this continent in a great Enlightenment and the founding of new republics.  Of course, that progress didn’t travel a straight line.  In the last century -- twice in just 30 years -- the forces of empire and intolerance and extreme nationalism consumed this continent.  And cities like this one were largely reduced to rubble.  Tens of millions of men and women and children were killed.

But from the ruins of the Second World War, our nations set out to remake the world -- to build a new international order and the institutions to uphold it.  A United Nations to prevent another world war and advance a more just and lasting peace.  International financial institutions like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to promote prosperity for all peoples.   A Universal Declaration of Human Rights to advance the “inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”  And here in Europe, giants like Chancellor Adenauer set out to bind old adversaries through commerce and through trade.  As Adenauer said in those early days, “European unity was a dream of a few.  It became a hope for [the] many.  Today it is a necessity for all of us.”  (Applause.)

And it wasn’t easy.  Old animosities had to be overcome.  National pride had to be joined with a commitment to a common good.  Complex questions of sovereignty and burden-sharing had to be answered.  Ant at every step, the impulse to pull back -- for each country to go its own way -- had to be resisted.  More than once, skeptics predicted the demise of this great project.

But the vision of European unity soldiered on -- and having defended Europe’s freedom in war, America stood with you every step of this journey.  A Marshall Plan to rebuild; an airlift to save Berlin; a NATO alliance to defend our way of life.  America’s commitment to Europe was captured by a young American President, John F. Kennedy, when he stood in a free West Berlin and declared that “freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.”
   
With strength and resolve and the power of our ideals, and a belief in a unified Europe, we didn’t simply end the Cold War -- freedom won.  Germany was reunited.  You welcomed new democracies into an even “ever closer union.”  You may argue over whose football clubs are better, vote for different singers on Eurovision.  (Laughter.)  But your accomplishment -- more than 500 million people speaking 24 languages in 28 countries, 19 with a common currency, in one European Union -- remains one of the greatest political and economic achievements of modern times.  (Applause.)

Yes, European unity can require frustrating compromise.  It adds layers of government that can slow decision-making.  I understand.  I've been in meetings with the European Commission.  And, as an American, we're famously disdainful of government.  We understand how easy it must be to vent at Brussels and complain.  But remember that every member of your union is a democracy.  That's not an accident.  Remember that no EU country has raised arms against another.  That's not an accident.  Remember that NATO is as strong as it’s ever been.

Remember that our market economies -- as Angela and I saw this morning -- are the greatest generators of innovation and wealth and opportunity in history.  Our freedom, our quality of life remains the envy of the world, so much so that parents are willing to walk across deserts, and cross the seas on makeshift rafts, and risk everything in the hope of giving their children the blessings that we -- that you -- enjoy -- blessings that you cannot take for granted.
  
This continent, in the 20th century, was at constant war.  People starved on this continent.  Families were separated on this continent.  And now people desperately want to come here precisely because of what you've created.  You can't take that for granted.

And today, more than ever, a strong, united Europe remains, as Adenauer said, a necessity for all of us.  It’s a necessity for the United States, because Europe’s security and prosperity is inherently indivisible from our own.  We can’t cut ourselves off from you.  Our economies are integrated.  Our cultures are integrated.  Our peoples are integrated.  You saw the response of the American people to Paris and Brussels -- it’s because, in our imaginations, this is our cities.

A strong, united Europe is a necessity for the world because an integrated Europe remains vital to our international order.  Europe helps to uphold the norms and rules that can maintain peace and promote prosperity around the world.

Consider what we’ve done in recent years:  Pulling the global economy back from the brink of depression and putting the world on the path of recovery.  A comprehensive deal that's cut off every single one of Iran’s paths to a nuclear bomb -- part of our shared vision of a world without nuclear weapons.  In Paris, the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change.  (Applause.)  Stopping Ebola in West Africa and saving countless lives.  Rallying the world around new sustainable development, including our goal to end extreme poverty.  None of those things could have happened if I -- if the United States did not have a partnership with a strong and united Europe.  (Applause.)  It wouldn’t have happened.

That’s what’s possible when Europe and America and the world stand as one.  And that’s precisely what we're going to need to face down the very real dangers that we face today.  So let me just lay out the kind of cooperation that we're going to need.  We need a strong Europe to bear its share of the burden, working with us on behalf of our collective security.  The United States has an extraordinary military, the best the world has ever known, but the nature of today’s threats means we can’t deal with these challenges by ourselves.

Right now, the most urgent threat to our nations is ISIL, and that’s why we’re united in our determination to destroy it.  And all 28 NATO allies are contributing to our coalition -- whether it’s striking ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq, or supporting the air campaign, or training local forces in Iraq, or providing critical humanitarian aid.  And we continue to make progress, pushing ISIL back from territory that it controlled.

And just as I’ve approved additional support for Iraqi forces against ISIL, I’ve decided to increase U.S. support for local forces fighting ISIL in Syria.  A small number of American Special Operations Forces are already on the ground in Syria and their expertise has been critical as local forces have driven ISIL out of key areas.  So given the success, I’ve approved the deployment of up 250 additional U.S. personnel in Syria, including Special Forces, to keep up this momentum.  They’re not going to be leading the fight on the ground, but they will be essential in providing the training and assisting local forces that continue to drive ISIL back.

So, make no mistake.  These terrorists will learn the same lesson as others before them have, which is, your hatred is no match for our nations united in the defense of our way of life.  And just as we remain relentless on the military front, we’re not going to give up on diplomacy to end the civil war in Syria, because the suffering of the Syrian people has to end, and that requires an effective political transition.  (Applause.)

But this remains a difficult fight, and none of us can solve this problem by ourselves.  Even as European countries make important contributions against ISIL, Europe, including NATO, can still do more.  So I’ve spoken to Chancellor Merkel and I’ll be meeting later with the Presidents of France and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain and of Italy.  In Syria and Iraq, we need more nations contributing to the air campaign.  We need more nations contributing trainers to help build up local forces in Iraq.  We need more nations to contribute economic assistance to Iraq so it can stabilize liberated areas and break the cycle of violent extremism so that ISIL cannot come back.

These terrorists are doing everything in their power to strike our cities and kill our citizens, so we need to do everything in our power to stop them.  And that includes closing gaps so terrorists can’t pull off attacks like those in Paris and Brussels.

Which brings me to one other point.  Europeans, like Americans, cherish your privacy.  And many are skeptical about governments collecting and sharing information, for good reason. That skepticism is healthy.  Germans remember their history of government surveillance -- so do Americans, by the way, particularly those who were fighting on behalf of civil rights.

So it’s part of our democracies to want to make sure our governments are accountable.
But I want to say this to young people who value their privacy and spend a lot of time on their phones:  The threat of terrorism is real.  In the United States, I’ve worked to reform our surveillance programs to ensure that they’re consistent with the rule of law and upholding our values, like privacy -- and, by the way, we include the privacy of people outside of the United States.  We care about Europeans’ privacy, not just Americans’ privacy.

But I also, in working on these issues, have come to recognize security and privacy don’t have to be a contradiction.  We can protect both.  And we have to.  If we truly value our liberty, then we have to take the steps that are necessary to share information and intelligence within Europe, as well as between the United States and Europe, to stop terrorists from traveling and crossing borders and killing innocent people.

And as today’s diffuse threats evolve, our alliance has to evolve.  So we’re going to have a NATO summit this summer in Warsaw, and I will insist that all of us need to meet our responsibilities, united, together.  That means standing with the people of Afghanistan as they build their security forces and push back against violent extremism.  It means more ships in the Aegean to shut down criminal networks who are profiting by smuggling desperate families and children.

And that said, NATO’s central mission is, and always will be, our solemn duty -- our Article 5 commitment to our common defense.  That’s why we’ll continue to bolster the defense of our frontline allies in Poland and Romania and the Baltic states.

So we have to both make sure that NATO carries out its traditional mission, but also to meet the threats of NATO’s southern flank.  That’s why we need to stay nimble, and make sure our forces are interoperable, and invest in new capabilities like cyber defense and missile defense.  And that’s why every NATO member should be contributing its full share -- 2 percent of GDP -- towards our common security, something that doesn’t always happen.  And I’ll be honest, sometimes Europe has been complacent about its own defense.
 
Just as we stand firm in our own defense, we have to uphold our most basic principles of our international order, and that’s a principle that nations like Ukraine have the right to choose their own destiny.  Remember that it was Ukrainians on the Maidan, many of them your age, reaching out for a future with Europe that prompted Russia to send in its military.  After all that Europe endured in the 20th century, we must not allow borders to be redrawn by brute force in the 21st century.  So we should keep helping Ukraine with its reforms to improve its economy and consolidate its democracy and modernize its forces to protect its independence.

And I want good relations with Russia, and have invested a lot in good relations with Russia.  But we need to keep sanctions on Russia in place until Russia fully implements the Minsk agreements that Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande and others have worked so hard to maintain, and provide a path for a political resolution of this issue.  And ultimately, it is my fervent hope that Russia recognizes that true greatness comes not from bullying neighbors, but by working with the world, which is the only way to deliver lasting economic growth and progress to the Russian people.
Now, our collective security rests on a foundation of prosperity, so that brings me to my second point.  The world needs a prosperous and growing Europe -- not just a strong Europe, but a prosperous and growing Europe that generates good jobs and wages for its people. 

As I mentioned before, the economic anxieties many feel today on both sides of the Atlantic are real.  The disruptive changes brought about by the global economy, unfortunately, sometimes are hitting certain groups, especially working-class communities, more heavily.  And if neither the burdens, nor the benefits of our global economy are being fairy distributed, it’s no wonder that people rise up and reject globalization.  If there are too few winners and too many losers as the global economy integrates, people are going to push back.

So all of us in positions of power have a responsibility as leaders of government and business and civil society to help people realize the promise of economic and security in this integrated economy.  And the good news is, we know how to do it.  Sometimes we just lack the political will to do it.
In the United States, our economy is growing again, but the United States can’t be the sole engine of global growth.  And countries should not have to choose between responding to crises and investing in their people.  So we need to pursue reforms to position us for long-term prosperity, and support demand and invest in the future.  All of our countries, for example, could be investing more in infrastructure.  All of our countries need to invest in science and research and development that sparks new innovation and new industries.  All of our countries have to invest in our young people, and make sure that they have the skills and the training and the education they need to adapt to this rapidly changing world.  All of our countries need to worry about inequality, and make sure that workers are getting a fair share of the incredible productivity that technology and global supply chains are producing.

But if you’re really concerned about inequality, if you’re really concerned about the plight of workers, if you’re a progressive, it’s my firm belief that you can’t turn inward.  That’s not the right answer.   We have to keep increasing the trade and investment that supports jobs, as we’re working to do between the United States and the EU.  We need to keep implementing reforms to our banking and financial systems so that the excesses and abuses that triggered the financial crisis never happen again.

But we can’t do that individually, nation by nation, because finance now is transnational.  It moves around too fast.  If we’re not coordinating between Europe and the United States and Asia, then it won’t work.

As the world has been reminded in recent weeks, we need to close loopholes that allow corporations and wealthy individuals to avoid paying their fair share of taxes through tax havens and tax avoidance, trillions of dollars that could be going towards pressing needs like education and health care and infrastructure.  But to do that, we have to work together.

Here in Europe, as you work to strengthen your union -- including through labor and banking reforms, and by ensuring growth across the Eurozone -- you will have the staunch support of the United States.  But you’re going to have to do it together, because your economies are too integrated to try to solve these problems on your own.  And I want to repeat:  We have to confront the injustice of widening economic inequality. But that is going to require collective work, because capital is mobile, and if only a few countries are worrying about it, then a lot of businesses will head toward places that don’t care about it quite as much.

For a lot of years, it was thought that countries had to choose between economic growth and economic inclusion.  Now we know the truth -- when wealth is increasingly concentrated among the few at the top, it’s not only a moral challenge to us but it actually drags down a country’s growth potential.  We need growth that is broad and lifts everybody up.  We need tax policies that do right by working families. 

And those like me who support European unity and free trade also have a profound responsibility to champion strong protections for workers -- a living wage and the right to organize, and a strong safety net, and a commitment to protect consumers and the environment upon which we all depend.  If we really want to reduce inequality, we've got to make sure everyone who works hard gets a fair shot -- and that's especially true for young people like you -- with education, and job training, and quality health care and good wages.  And that includes, by the way, making sure that there's equal pay for equal work for women.  (Applause.)

The point is, we have to reform many of our economies.  But the answer to reform is not to start cutting ourselves off from each other.  Rather, it's to work together.  And this brings me back to where I began.  The world depends upon a democratic Europe that upholds the principles of pluralism and diversity and freedom that are our common creed.  As free peoples, we cannot allow the forces that I’ve described -- fears about security or economic anxieties -- to undermine our commitment to the universal values that are the source of our strength.   

Democracy, I understand, can be messy.  It can be slow.  It can be frustrating.  I know that.  I have to deal with a Congress.  (Laughter.)  We have to constantly work to make sure government is not a collection of distant, detached institutions, but is connected and responsive to the everyday concerns of our people.  There's no doubt that how a united Europe works together can be improved.  But look around the world -- at authoritarian governments and theocracies that rule by fear and oppression -- there is no doubt that democracy is still the most just and effective form of government ever created.  (Applause.)

And when I talk about democracy, I don't just mean elections, because there are a number of countries where people get 70, 80 percent of the vote, but they control all the media and the judiciary.  And civil society organizations and NGOs can't organize, and have to be registered, and are intimidated.  I mean real democracy, the sort that we see here in Europe and in the United States.  So we have to be vigilant in defense of these pillars of democracy -- not just elections, but rule of law, as well as fair elections, a free press, vibrant civil societies where citizens can work for change.

And we should be suspicious of those who claim to have the interests of Europe at heart and yet don't practice the very values that are essential to Europe, that have made freedom in Europe so real.
So, yes, these are unsettling times.  And when the future is uncertain, there seems to be an instinct in our human nature to withdraw to the perceived comfort and security of our own tribe, our own sect, our own nationality, people who look like us, sound like us.  But in today's world, more than any time in human history, that is a false comfort.  It pits people against one another because of what they look or how they pray or who they love.  And yet, we know where that kind of twisted thinking can lead.  It can lead to oppression.  It can lead to segregation and internment camps.  And to the Shoah and Srebrenica.

In the United States, we’ve long wrestled with questions of race and integration, and we do to this day.  And we still have a lot of work to do.  But our progress allows somebody like me to now stand here as President of the United States.  That's because we committed ourselves to a larger ideal, one based on a creed -- not a race, not a nationality -- a set of principles; truths that we held to be self-evident that all men were created equal.  And now, as Europe confronts questions of immigration and religion and assimilation, I want you to remember that our countries are stronger, they are more secure and more successful when we welcome and integrate people of all backgrounds and faith, and make them feel as one.  And that includes our fellow citizens who are Muslim.  (Applause.)     

Look, the sudden arrival of so many people from beyond our borders, especially when their cultures are very different, that can be daunting.  We have immigration issues in the United States as well, along our southern border of the United States and from people arriving from all around the world who get a visa and decide they want to stay.  And I know the politics of immigration and refugees is hard.  It's hard everywhere, in every country.  And just as a handful of neighborhoods shouldn't bear all the burden of refugee resettlement, neither should any one nation.  All of us have to step up, all of us have to share this responsibility.  That includes the United States.

But even as we take steps that are required to ensure our security; even as we help Turkey and Greece cope with this influx in a way that is safe and humane; even as Chancellor Merkel and other European leaders work for an orderly immigration and resettlement process, rather than a disorderly one; even as we all need to collectively do more to invest in the sustainable development and governance in those nations from which people are fleeing so that they can succeed and prosper in their own countries, and so that we can reduce the conflicts that cause so much of the refugee crisis around the world -- Chancellor Merkel and others have eloquently reminded us that we cannot turn our backs on our fellow human beings who are here now, and need our help now.  (Applause.)  We have to uphold our values, not just when it’s easy, but when it’s hard.

In Germany, more than anywhere else, we learned that what the world needs is not more walls.  We can't define ourselves by the barriers we build to keep people out or to keep people in.  At every crossroads in our history, we've moved forward when we acted on those timeless ideals that tells us to be open to one another, and to respect the dignity of every human being.

And I think of so many Germans and people across Europe who have welcomed migrants into their homes, because, as one woman in Berlin said, “we needed to do something.”  Just that human impulse to help.  And I think of the refugee who said, “I want to teach my kids the value of working.”  That human impulse to see the next generation have hope.  All of us can be guided by the empathy and compassion of His Holiness, Pope Francis, who said “refugees are not numbers, they are people who have faces, names, stories, and [they] need to be treated as such.”

And I know it may seem easy for me to say all this, living on the other side of the ocean.  And I know that some will call it blind hope when I say that I am confident that the forces that bind Europe together are ultimately much stronger than those trying to pull you apart.  But hope is not blind when it is rooted in the memory of all that you've already overcome -- your parents, your grandparents.
So I say to you, the people of Europe, don't forget who you are.  You are the heirs to a struggle for freedom.  You're the Germans, the French, the Dutch, the Belgians, the Luxembourgers, the Italians -- and yes, the British -- (applause) -- who rose above old divisions and put Europe on the path to union.  (Applause.)

You’re the Poles of Solidarity and the Czechs and Slovaks who waged a Velvet Revolution.  You’re the Latvians, and Lithuanians and Estonians who linked hands in a great human chain of freedom.  You’re the Hungarians and Austrians who cut through borders of barbed wire.  And you’re the Berliners who, on that November night, finally tore down that wall.  You’re the people of Madrid and London who faced down bombings and refused to give in to fear.

And you are the Parisians who, later this year, plan to reopen the Bataclan.  You’re the people of Brussels, in a square of flowers and flags, including one Belgian who offered a message -- we need “more.”  More understanding.  More dialogue.  More humanity.

That's who you are.  United, together.  You are Europe -- “United in diversity.”   Guided by the ideals that have lit the world, and stronger when you stand as one.  (Applause.)

As you go forward, you can be confident that your greatest ally and friend, the United States of America, stands with you, shoulder-to-shoulder, now and forever.  Because a united Europe -- once the dream of a few -- remains the hope of the many and a necessity for us all.

Thank you very much.  Thank you.  (Applause.)