Obama: US trusts Europe to solve its debt problems

Nov 4, 2011, 19:43 GMT

Paris - US President Barack Obama said he had faith that the eurozone would master its debt problems, in a joint interview with French President Nicolas Sarkozy aired late Friday on French television.

Europe's problems also affected the United States, he said, adding that the continent was the United States' biggest trading partner.

Obama said he had an excellent relationship with the French president, describing him as a hard worker with lots of energy.

Sarkozy described Obama as a 'brave man' who was 'easy to talk to.'

The French president also defended French-German solidarity - the two countries have led efforts to solve the eurozone debt crisis and prop up Greece.

'It's normal to take a stand,' he said. 'We're players, not bystanders.'

The interview was pre-recorded after the end of the Group of 20 summit in the French city of Cannes.

The opposition Socialists accused Sarkozy of using the interview with Obama to help position himself for presidential elections coming up next year.

The pair had earlier celebrated more than two centuries of Franco-American military ties in a joint ceremony to mark the end of the intervention in Libya.

The French had stood by America during its War of Independence (1775-83); a century-and-a-half later US troops helped liberate France from Nazi Germany and in 2011, the two countries participated in the campaign against Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi's regime, Sarkozy said.

As for Obama, he was no ordinary US president in French eyes, having made the United States respected internationally once more, Sarkozy said.

Obama said the successful NATO-led intervention had shown 'why NATO remains the world's most effective alliance,' and the importance of 'more nations bearing the cost of peace and security.'

The fraternal display follows a series of minor irritations between Paris and Washington.

The French had earlier bristled at US criticism of Europe's handling of the eurozone debt crisis.

The Americans, for their part, had been irked by France's vote in favour of Palestine becoming a member of the UN cultural agency, UNESCO. The United States had voted against the application.

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