Les Etats Unis rassurent l’Europe de l’Est en matière de sécurité commune[en][de] 

During his election campaign, US President Barack Obama had been cool on a deal reached by his predecessor, George W. Bush, to put a radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor rockets in Poland to shoot down missiles fired by countries like Iran or North Korea. 

In the Czech Republic, the radar issue has taken on a very specific dimension. In the Czech Senate, lawmakers have warned that they will be unable to move on ratifying the Lisbon Treaty without the accompanying ratification of an agreement with the US to install the radar system. 

A ballistic missile launch by North Korea while Obama was on his first visit to Prague on 5 April had apparently changed the US position. Obama stated in Prague that he now wanted the Central Europe-based missile defence shield to be built (EurActiv 06/04/09). 

Moscow strongly opposes the possible Polish and Czech installations as a threat to its security. After the election of Obama in November, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatened to base medium-range Iskander missiles in the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad near the Polish border if the United States persisted. 

During Obama's visit to Moscow last July, press reports suggested that the USA and Russia were edging closer on divisive issues such as missile defence (EurActiv 07/07/09). 

Then, the absence of a high-level US representative to the recent commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the beginning of World War II in Poland signalled that Washington was rethinking its anti-missile defence system (EurActiv 31/08/09). 

After Obama announced last September that the US would rethink the system imagined by his predecessor, Russia welcomed a "new beginning" in its relations with NATO. 

On his tour to Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, US vice president Joe Biden is presenting America's revised missile defence plans, desidged to counter short-range and intermediate-range ballistic missiles. Poland has already announced it will participate in the new US missile defence programme. 

The United States is keen to secure the region's backing for revamped plans for a missile defence system, after September's decision to scrap Bush-era solutions irked Poland and the Czech Republic, where elements of it would have been located. 

Washington also wants to ensure its efforts to "reset" relations with Russia that include the change in missile defence plans will not alienate the region. 

In Bucharest, during a trip to Central and Eastern Europe, Biden repeated efforts to reassure Central Europeans that the Obama administration would not strike any deals with Moscow regarding their security without them. 

"The time for Central Europe has come," Biden said during a speech at the Central University Library. 

"That's why in America we no longer think in terms of what we can do for central Europe, but rather in terms of what we can do with Central Europe." 

Romania, as well as Poland and the Czech Republic, are close US allies. Romania hosts a small US base and training facilities, part of a Pentagon shift from large Cold War-era centres in Western Europe towards smaller installations nearer hot spots such as the Middle East. All three have troops in Afghanistan. 

On Wednesday, during Biden's visit to Poland, Warsaw said it was ready to take part in the revamped defence system unveiled in Washington last month. The scheme envisages deploying sea- and land-based interceptors and aims to address any immediate threats from Iran more effectively than the Bush plan. 

It was unclear what role, if any, would Romania play. Asked about any plans for the Black Sea state, a senior US administration official travelling with Biden told reporters: "That's an issue that will be dealt through NATO [...] but my understanding is that the process is underway. Options are on the table." 

From Bucharest Biden left for Prague. Other than the missile defence systems based in Poland and the Czech Republic, which Moscow saw as a way to neutralise its own nuclear arsenal, eastwards enlargement of NATO and the European Union had also fuelled frosty ties with Russia that Washington is now trying to improve. 

The EU wants to forge closer ties with former Soviet states on its eastern border to prevent instability in a region that is the route for the bloc's gas imports from Russia. 

"In Eastern Europe countries still struggle to fulfil the promise of a strong democracy or a vibrant market economy," Biden said. 

"You can help guide Moldova, Georgia and Ukraine along the path of lasting stability. It is your time to lead," he said, addressing Eastern European states now part of the EU, such as Romania. 

(EurActiv with Reuters.) 

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico categorically ruled out hosting any part of a US or Nato anti-missile system in Slovakia during his time in office. 

"As long as I remain the prime minister, I shall not agree to the location or deployment of any components of an anti-missile system on the territory of Slovakia," he told reporters in Bratislava.