Europe awaits new US president in time of crisis

According to the latest CNN national 'Poll of Polls' (2 November), the 47-year old lawyer and the first African American nominated by a major political party for president has a seven-point lead over Mr McCain (53% to 46%).

But up to eight percent of people remain undecided - enough to swing the result - while turnout is expected to reach its highest figure since 1960, with some 20 million Americans haveing already cast their votes.

In the final hours on the campaign trail, both candidates are battling for "must win" states - Ohio with 20 electoral votes for senator McCain and Pennsylvania with 21 votes under the system for senator Obama.

At the same time, they both were faced with undesirable surprises.

Sarah Palin - the US vice-president hopeful in the McCain camp - found herself caught up in a phone conversation with a Canadian comedian posing as French President Nicolas Sarkozy. During the six-minute chat, they discussed hunting, Carla Bruni's looks and Ms Palin's presidential prospects.

Mr Obama, for his part, had to respond to a finding that his aunt from Kenya, stayed illegally in the US, despite immigration authorities turning down her asylum request four years ago.

Europeans for Obama

US elections are followed closely on the other side of the Atlantic for their enormous global impact - especially at a time when Europe needs America to help tailor a global reform of the financial sector and to boost the fight against climate change.

If Europeans had a vote, Barack Obama would beat John McCain by large margin. He enjoys greater popularity due to the fact that he represents a more evident contrast to the politics of the outgoing president, Republican George W. Bush.

Mr Bush's eight-year-long term has been marked by a unilateral decision to invade Iraq - something that his reputation has never recovered from, even though he later reached out to consult Europe on issues such as Iran.

According to Tomas Valasek from the London-based Centre for European Reform, none of the presidential candidates will ignore the EU's opinion on major foreign policy issues, but each of them will bring different arguments to the table.

Barack Obama has shown more willingness to judge countries on an individual basis, not strictly within a war on terror framework, Mr Valasek told the EUobserver, citing views on Iran and Russia as significantly different to those of Mr McCain.

The Republican presidential candidate refuses to engage in talks with Tehran over its nuclear programme and he also adopted a more critical stance on Russia's military action against Georgia in August.

McCain's views on Russia are more in line with a Polish and Czech foreign policy approach, while Obama would gain sympathy in Germany, France and Italy, Mr Valasek said.

Financial crisis

But the transatlantic agenda will be dominated by the financial crisis and poor economic prospects for both continents.

On 15 November, the United States will host a "Group of 20 summit," which should kick of talks on how financial markets should be regulated. Apart from the US, the group involves Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the UK and the EU representative.

According to Mr Valasek, Mr Obama seems to agree with Europe when it comes to a possibility of state interventions into economy, but the risk lies in his protectionist rethoric. This could worsen the current situation, he said.

Daniel Gros from the Centre for European policy studies in Brussels described Mr McCain's approach on the financial crisis as "more impulsive," while noting that Democrat Obama had a very good team of advisors.

"I am certain that Obama will very carefully listen to the very good technical advice he gets," the analyst said.