(Adds Obama's departure, paragraph 5)
* U.S., EU to pledge unity but differ on economic strategy
* EU fears Obama not paying it enough attention
* Saturday's two-hour meeting follows NATO summit
By Timothy Heritage
LISBON, Nov 18 (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and European Union leaders will try to show they are not drifting apart at a brief summit on Saturday, but are unlikely to be able to hide their differences over economic strategy.
Obama's talks with the EU's top officials, Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso, are scheduled to last only two hours and have been tagged on to the end of a NATO summit in Lisbon. No major decisions are expected.
But EU officials are relieved to have any meeting at all after Obama decided not to attend a May summit, and are hoping for assurances that he is still paying attention to Europe as he forges ties with emerging economies such as China.
Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, an expert at the U.S. National Security Council, said this week: "We view a strong Europe as a stronger partner for the United States in meeting all of the challenges we face in Europe and around the world."
Obama, who left Washington late on Thursday, is expected to echo such comments to appease European leaders such as Barroso, the president of the EU's executive European Commission, who has voiced frustration with the drift in relations.
"The transAtlantic relationship is not living up to its potential. I think we should do much more together," Barroso said in a newspaper interview in July.
European leaders are worried that any sign that Washington is not listening to the EU, which groups 27 countries and more than 500 million people, will damage the bloc's efforts to be an influential player on the world stage.
PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS
The sides have much in common but acknowledge there are areas where they differ. Time to work on the differences could be limited if, as expected, they discuss Ireland's debt crisis and the possibility Dublin will be bailed out. [ID:nLDE6AH0HV]
European governments were alarmed by the Federal Reserve's decision to pump ${esc.dollar}600 billion into the U.S. economy, and their austerity plans contrast sharply with Obama's preference to stimulate economic expansion with more government spending.
Europe is also worried by U.S. monetary easing as a way to weaken the dollar, disagrees with Washington over how to tighten financial regulations to avert another global economic crisis and regrets Obama did not put more pressure on China over its currency at the Group of 20 summit in Seoul. [ID:nN13119204]
"You have to go to all the misunderstandings before you go to the understandings," an EU source said of the talks.
Both sides want to discuss trade issues, with Europe pushing for more trade liberalisation from the United States to encourage progress at the Doha round of global trade talks.
There are also differences over sharing of airline passenger data as part of global security cooperation, and climate change, which will be discussed to help coordinate views before international climate talks in Cancun.
Areas where views coincide more closely include international development, the fight against cyber terrorism and efforts to prevent Iran developing nuclear arms. These issues are on the agenda, as are peace efforts in the Middle East.
EU and U.S. envoys hope some confusion over who leads Europe will be cleared up at the first summit since implementation of the Lisbon treaty, which created Van Rompuy's post as head of the EU Council, the body representing the EU member states.
The Brookings Institution think tank said the summit would be a partial success but also "a relative disappointment."
"In spite of several favourable factors, points of contention between the U.S. and Europe remain, making a more ambitious agenda still out of reach," it said.
"This more ambitious agenda is necessary, however, if the transAtlantic partners want to strengthen their hand in the multipolar world and assume a greater role in setting the global agenda -- and global norms."
For more on NATO summit in Lisbon, see [ID:nLDE6AE16Z]
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