Obama to visit Berlin on July 24
US democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in Berlin on July 24, a spokesperson for the Berlin senate confirmed on Tuesday.
Details of the visit will be worked out when an Obama campaign delegation arrives in Germany within the next few days, the spokesman said.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit expressed an interest in meeting Obama, and also said he would be allowed to speak in front of the city's famous Brandenburg Gate.
An address in the city's most prominent landmark would be loaded with historical significance, because only elected US presidents have been allowed to use the famous square in the past.
The Brandenburg Gate is where former US President Ronald Reagan gave a famous speech in 1987, during which he asked then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall.
On Monday evening, Spiegel Online reported that sources from the German government had said there were plans for Obama to meet with both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“They want to meet him,” the source said.
Obama is immensely popular in Berlin – a factor that appears to have some of his advisors worried. According to reports in the daily Berliner Morgenpost, some of his staff have warned him that excessive popularity in Europe could end up costing him votes at home, as was the case with 2004 presidential candidate, John Kerry.
The Berlin visit will be part of a European tour that is set to include stops in Germany, France and the UK.
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Details of the visit will be worked out when an Obama campaign delegation arrives in Germany within the next few days, the spokesman said.
Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit expressed an interest in meeting Obama, and also said he would be allowed to speak in front of the city's famous Brandenburg Gate.
An address in the city's most prominent landmark would be loaded with historical significance, because only elected US presidents have been allowed to use the famous square in the past.
The Brandenburg Gate is where former US President Ronald Reagan gave a famous speech in 1987, during which he asked then-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down” the Berlin Wall.
On Monday evening, Spiegel Online reported that sources from the German government had said there were plans for Obama to meet with both Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“They want to meet him,” the source said.
Obama is immensely popular in Berlin – a factor that appears to have some of his advisors worried. According to reports in the daily Berliner Morgenpost, some of his staff have warned him that excessive popularity in Europe could end up costing him votes at home, as was the case with 2004 presidential candidate, John Kerry.
The Berlin visit will be part of a European tour that is set to include stops in Germany, France and the UK.
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