The world looks to Obama - Part III

For the moment, however, Europe can only offer advice. Obama is expected to delight many in Europe by changing US policy on climate change, nuclear disarmament and accepting a ban on torture. But he has yet to react to EU calls for total revamp of international financial institutions, including Sarkozy's calls for stringent global regulations. In any case, the US president-elect has made clear that immediate focus will be on domestic economic reform rather than reshaping the global financial landscape.

EU policymakers expect strain on several foreign policy fronts, including Afghanistan. European governments are likely to ignore Obama's demands that they assume greater responsibility by sending more troops to contain the growing insurgency in the country. This in turn could cast a dark shadow over Obama's expected first visit to Europe next year to attend NATO's 60th anniversary celebrations in Strasbourg.

France will not deploy more soldiers in Afghanistan because the focus must be on transferring more power and responsibility to Afghan authorities, said Kouchner, adding: "I do not believe there will be a military solution in Afghanistan." Germany similarly opposes raising troop levels or sending its soldiers into more dangerous southern Afghanistan.

Fearing further escalation of the conflict, Europeans are uneasy over Obama's determination to carry out military strikes against Afghan insurgents sheltering inside Pakistan. And while the president-elect's statements favouring negotiations rather than military action to resolve stalemate over Iran's controversial nuclear program are more in line with EU-thinking, the conversation could get tougher if the US opts for tougher sanctions against Tehran.

After this summer's crisis over Georgia when Washington took a more robust stance against Russia's military action than the EU, Europeans want Washington and Brussels to stop sending contradictory signals to Moscow and forge a united front on dealing with a belligerent Russia. On the economic front, Europeans intend to work hard to ensure that Obama's anti-free trade rhetoric during the electoral campaign is not translated into government policy.

Significantly, one positive fall-out of Obama's election victory is increased scrutiny of how European governments treat their minority communities. While members of Europe's Muslim and other minorities are slowly becoming more assertive and visible in business, politics and society, many continue to face an uphill struggle for recognition as full-fledged citizens.

Given rigid political party structures, breaking into mainstream politics is specially difficult for minority representatives, says Sajjad Karim, conservative member of the European Parliament. "The European political system favours middle-class, middle-aged, white males."

French human rights minister Rama Yade, of Senegalese origin, told the magazine Le Figaro: "The French themselves are ready, but our political system would stop an Obama appearing. Not because he's black, but because he comes from a background of recent immigration. Here, integration is much more difficult."

Echoing Yade, Trevor Phillips, head of a British equality watchdog group has said that while the British public "would rather like" a black leader, "institutional resistance" would block the path of an ethnic minority candidate. "The parties and unions and think-tanks are all very happy to sign up to the general idea of advancing the cause of minorities, but in practice they would like somebody else to do the business."

Obama's election has not only given a much-needed boost to America's tarnished global reputation but also injected Europe's minorities with new sense of worth. It may take years before Europeans achieve anything close to what the US has accomplished and the euphoria of a new dawn of US-EU relations may fade fast. But the 2008 election could mark a turning point in both transatlantic ties and represent a defining moment for minorities in Europe. And that, says Karim, is a "tremendous achievement".