US reassures EU over transatlantic ties

(MUNICH) - Barack Obama's security advisor sought Saturday to reassure the European Union about the state of transatlantic ties, following the US president's decision to not to attend an EU-US summit.

"Reports of the demise of the transatlantic partnership have been greatly exaggerated," National Security Advisor James Jones told security experts and senior officials at a conference in Munich, southern Germany.

"Europe today is our indispensible partner as we confront, together, the whole range or challenges to our common security," he said.

The White House announced on Monday that the US president would not travel to the scheduled bilateral summit in the Spanish capital Madrid on May 24-25, raising eyebrows in European capitals.

The scheduled visit had been a high point on the EU calendar, and some observers have seen his decision not to attend as a snub -- or, perhaps worse, a lack of interest in hearing what Europe has to say.

According to analysts, Obama was unimpressed by the two EU-US summits he attended last year in Prague and Washington, and by the multitude of EU representatives across the table from him.

"We're deepening our cooperation with the EU -- building on the extraordinary US-EU summit in Prague, President Obama's summit with the EU leadership in Washington, and now as the EU implements the historic Lisbon Treaty," Jones said.

He added that the United States had "welcomed European leadership in meeting urgent global challenges".