Obama starts European tour in Berlin

July 24, 2008

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Thursday kicked off a European tour in Berlin, saying he wanted to signal a fresh start in transatlantic ties from the city where the Cold War was won. Obama, who arrived from Israel, met first with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He was also to see Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit before making a foreign policy speech in front of an expected crowd of tens of thousands. The presumptive Democratic candidate said he wanted the United States and Europe to rediscover their common ground. "There is no doubt that part of what I want to communicate on both sides of the Atlantic is the enormous potential of us restoring a sense of coming together," he told reporters on the plane.