Obama calls on Europeans to fight intolerance together

Eight years after arriving in Germany like a rock star, President Obama pleaded with disenchanted Germans on Monday for European unity and tolerance toward Muslim immigrants while critics blamed the departing U.S. president for “shattered illusions” of hope and change.

Wrapping up a three-nation trip that focused largely on security and terrorism, Mr. Obama said the world needs Europe united and strong to confront rising intolerance and authoritarianism. He urged a mostly German audience during a speech in Hanover not to allow Europe to be pulled apart by concerns over Islamist extremism, immigration and inequality.

“We cannot allow fears about security and inequality to undermine our commitment to universal values,” Mr. Obama said. “This is a defining moment, and what happens on this continent has consequences around the globe. The answer is not to start cutting off from one another; rather it is to work together.”

Commentators accused the president of engaging in lofty rhetoric without offering real solutions to Europe’s problems. The newsweekly Der Spiegel blasted Mr. Obama’s comments as “hypocritical given the American role” in the European Union’s refugee crisis. Germany, the publication noted, has accepted far more Syrian refugees per capita than the U.S., where Mr. Obama faces strong opposition to his plan to accept 10,000 Syrian migrants this year.

“It is a pity that [German Chancellor Angela Merkel] could not turn to [Mr. Obama] when she needed help with the refugee crisis,” Der Spiegel said on its website. “Then maybe she would not have needed [Turkish President] Recep Tayyip Erdogan.”

Ms. Merkel worked out a $8 billion deal with Mr. Erdogan to curb the migrant flow to Europe by sending refugees who arrive in Greece to Turkey, an agreement that has come under fire from human rights groups and some EU leaders.

Mr. Erdogan is warning that the deal will fail if the European Union doesn’t allow visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, a demand that is increasing security concerns in capitals across Europe.

Berlin’s daily Morgenpost noted the shift in Germans’ attitudes toward Mr. Obama, who sparked a wave of euphoria in 2009 when he succeeded the unpopular George W. Bush in the Oval Office. In 2008, a festive crowd of about 200,000 greeted Mr. Obama in the heart of Berlin before he was even elected.

“Today, the boss at the White House is sitting on a pile of shattered illusions,” the paper said. “His relationship with Chancellor Merkel has a new sobriety too. … In reality, the German-American relationship consists of a long to-do list. The best defense against disillusionment is scaling back expectations and staying realistic. Anything else would be nostalgia.”

With tensions high over the flood of mainly Muslim migrants, support for Ms. Merkel’s ruling Christian Democratic Union party has fallen to 33 percent — its lowest level in five years. Support for the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party and other nationalist movements is rising.

Mr. Obama arrived in Europe as a series of threats was straining the European Union from all sides. In addition to the migrant crisis and weak economic growth, Islamic State terrorists have attacked Paris and Brussels, headquarters of the European Union and NATO, while Russian aggression in Ukraine is prompting fears of Cold War expansionism and questions about the U.S. commitment to NATO. Critical comments by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump also have raised questions about the value of the alliance.

The president, who created a backlash in London by advising the British to vote to remain in the European Union, described the 28-nation bloc as one of the biggest achievements of the past century.

“More than 500 million people, speaking 24 languages in 28 countries, 19 with a common currency in one European Union, remains one of the greatest political and economic achievements of modern times,” he said.

Referring to terrorist attacks carried out by the Islamic State group, Mr. Obama said, “These are unsettling times, and when the future is uncertain, there seems to be an instinct in human nature to withdraw to the perceived comfort of our own tribe, our own sect, our own nationality: people who look like us, sound like us.”

In an apparent reference to Mr. Trump, Mr. Obama said, “You see increasing intolerance in our politics, and loud voices get the most attention.” But he added that “twisted thinking can lead to oppression.”

White House aides said they deliberately made connections between Mr. Obama’s speech in Hanover on Monday and the address he delivered in Berlin eight years ago.

“The point that the president made in the Berlin speech is that when the world stands together and acts through collective multilateral action, we will be able to deal with the challenges that confront us,” said Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes. “If you look at the areas where we’ve been able to make the most progress in our foreign policy, it’s in areas where we’ve been able to mobilize collective action, particularly including our European allies. That was necessary to get the Iranian nuclear deal. That was necessary to stamp out Ebola. That was certainly necessary to get to the Paris climate accord.

On terrorism, the refugee crisis and Russian aggression, he said, “The approaches that worked in the last seven years are the approaches that need to be applied to those issues.”