US is committed to Nato, Obama tells Greece

Without mentioning Donald Trump by name, the US president told Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos that a strong Nato is of “utmost importance” and would provide “significant continuity even as we see a transition in government in the United States”.

US president Barack Obama and Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras speaking before their meeting in Athens on November 15, 2016. Brendan Smialowski/AFP

ATHENS // President Barack Obama opened his final foreign trip as president on Tuesday with reassuring words in Greece about the US commitment to Nato as he prepared to hand off to a Donald Trump administration, saying Democratic and Republican administrations alike recognise the importance of the alliance to the trans-Atlantic relationship.

Without mentioning Mr Trump by name, Mr Obama told Greek president Prokopis Pavlopoulos that a strong Nato is of “utmost importance” and would provide “significant continuity even as we see a transition in government in the United States”.

Mr Pavlopoulos, for his part, thanked Mr Obama for US support of the Greek people in a time of social and economic crisis, and said he was confident that Mr Trump “will continue on the same path”.

Mr Trump’s upset election badly rattled nerves in Europe after he appeared to call into question Washington’s near 70-year security guarantee by saying he would only help Nato allies if they paid their way.

Nato head Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday expressed confidence that Mr Trump would live up to all US commitments to the alliance, just days after urging the president-elect not to go it alone.

“President-elect Donald Trump stated during the election campaign that he is a big fan of Nato,” Mr Stoltenberg said in Brussels as he arrived for talks with EU defence ministers.

“And I am certain that he will be a president ... who will live up to all the commitments of the United States in the alliance, because a strong Nato is important for Europe but it’s also important for the United States.”

Mr Obama’s reassurances to Greece reflect an attempt to ease the deep concerns about Mr Trump and the future of America’s treaty alliances. Yet they may be greeted with scepticism.

For months throughout the campaign, Mr Obama repeatedly assured world leaders in public and private that Mr Trump would not be elected, only to see him emerge victorious from last week’s election.

Mr Obama also met with Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras, and offered a welcome message of support for the Greeks as they struggle with both economic woes and a huge influx of refugees.

The US president pledged to keep pressing his view that “austerity alone cannot deliver prosperity and that it is going to be important both with respect to debt relief and other accommodative strategies to help the Greek people in this period of adjustment”.

Mr Obama is making the first visit to Greece by a sitting US president since Bill Clinton’s visit in 1999.

More than 5,000 police were deployed in the capital’s streets for the two-day visit.

On Wednesday, Mr Obama is scheduled to tour the Acropolis and give a major speech about democracy and globalisation before flying on to Berlin. From Germany, he will travel to Peru for an Asian economic summit before returning to Washington on Saturday.

* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse