BERLIN, June 10 (UPI) -- German politicians delivered a brutal assessment of U.S. President George W. Bush's eight years in office shortly before his arrival in Berlin.
Bush is on a 10-day trip though Europe that on Monday took him to Slovenia, and will still take him to Germany, Italy, France, Britain and Northern Ireland. It's Bush's final trip before he leaves office in November 2008.
His first stop after Slovenia, where he is meeting with EU leaders, is Meseberg, the German government's castle-turned-guest house some 55 miles north of Berlin.
German politicians before Bush's arrival have harshly criticized the president's eight years in office.
Hans-Ulrich Klose, a senior Social Democrat lawmaker, said the U.S. reputation around the world had taken a severe beating since 2002. Bush did not "make the world better," he told the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper.
Guido Westerwelle, the head of the opposition Free Democrats, a party that is traditionally America-friendly, said he would have wished for a better eight years.
"The Bush era was not good, neither for America nor for anyone who, like I, considers America a friend," he told the newspaper.
The head of the Green Party, Juergen Trittin, said the world was "noticeably worse" because of Bush.
"The credibility of democracy in the world has suffered dramatically because of Bush's double standards," he said.
The EU and the United States are still quarreling over visa regulations, as Washington has announced it would not hand visa waivers to all EU citizens to enter the United States.
Much more importance carries the NATO mission in Afghanistan, where there still are security issues in several provinces.
Bush said before his departure that he would thank nations with soldiers in Afghanistan for their contribution while reminding them and others that "there's a lot of work to be done."
