ARTHUR BEESLEY, European Correspondent in Lisbon
EU LEADERS will attempt to give fresh impetus to Europe's relationship with the US when they meet President Barack Obama this evening for talks on the economic crisis.
The 90-minute EU-US summit, tacked on at the end of a two-day Nato gathering in Lisbon, comes 10 months after Mr Obama unilaterally scrapped preparations for a meeting in May.
It comes amid renewed tension in markets because of Ireland's financial crisis, which has led Washington to demand a swift European response. Efforts to tame the debt crisis and unblock regulatory hurdles to transatlantic business are expected to dominate the meeting.
The EU will be represented by European Council president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission chief Jos� Manuel Barroso, whose frustration that the transatlantic relationship is not living up to its potential is well known.
President Obama last night said Nato had agreed to develop a missile defence system to protect the territory of all Nato member states in Europe and North America, involving the linking of European and US defence systems.
He said Nato leaders would invite Russia to join the system when they meet President Dmitry Medvedev today.
The summit, a fixture on the political calendar since 1991, comes as President Obama concentrates on his domestic agenda and works on relations with increasingly powerful trading partners such as China.
Although Mr Obama's cancellation of the May meeting was received as a snub in Brussels, the president wrote in Portuguese paper Publico�yesterday that the US and Europe are the "closest partners".
After discussions today on Afghanistan, Nato leaders expect to endorse ambitious plans to withdraw the bulk of their combat troops from the country by the end of 2014.
Despite concerns that the timetable for a withdrawal cannot be realised, the chief spokesman for the alliance insisted yesterday that it was "fully confident" that conditions for a transition to Afghan military control would be met within that period.
"It is conditions based, we will put the conditions in place to make it happen," he said. Other Nato officials acknowledge, however, that the transition will continue beyond 2015 in the most violent areas of the country.
Nato leaders, who meet Afghan president Hamid Karzai this morning, are also working on a new political agreement between the alliance and Afghanistan for the long term.
Even though the focus is on an exit strategy from the increasingly unpopular military campaign, Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said international forces would remain committed to Afghanistan "for as long as it takes" to finish the job.
Mr Obama adopted a similar tone in his Publico�article when he wrote of his determination to keep a "lasting commitment" with the Afghan people.
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