France / US

Sarkozy, Bush hold talks in Paris

Article published on the 2008-06-14 Latest update 2008-06-14 11:01 TU

Sarkozy and Bush meet at the Elysee Palace
(Photo: Reuters)

President Nicolas Sarkozy hosted bilateral talks with US President George W Bush Saturday on his farewell trip to Europe. At a press conference Saturday Sarkozy spoke about the EU failed reform treaty. France is set to take over the rotating EU presidency while Bush addressed Middle East peace and the war in Iraq.

The other European Union countries "must continue ratification...so that the Irish incident does not become a crisis," Sarkozy said in the joint press conference, referring to Ireland's referendum on the Lisbon reform treaty last Thursday. The majority "no" vote effectively killed the reform treaty for the European group.

Bush responded to a Middle East peace question by saying, "I think it can be done by the end of the year... the Palestinians are discouraged by the [Israeli] settlement activity, all the more reason to get the borders defined as quickly as possible."

He said that he had been on the phone regularly with world leaders. He said that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas must tell Palestinians, "'You support us, and you're going to get a state. You support Hamas, and and you're going to get Gaza. Take your pick.'"

Bush added that the US could also reach agreement with the Iraqis.