Dear President Obama, Europe hopes: Paul Taylor

-- Paul Taylor is a Reuters columnist, the views expressed are his own --

By Paul Taylor

LONDON (Reuters) - The European Union has drafted a secret message to be sent to the next president of the United States. Here's what it doesn't say but might:

Dear President Obama, Europe has high hopes for you. Almost certainly too high.

With the exception of a few of our east European brethren, we will be delighted to see the end of President George W. Bush and his "my way or the highway" unilateral leadership style. Your election has created enormous excitement in Europe and you can expect an immediate lift in America's international image, which will make it easier for us to give public support to your policies and to U.S. leadership in global security.

We look forward to a president who consults his allies -- and don't forget we are your most reliable democratic partners -- and who works with us, where possible through international institutions, to achieve our common goals.

Here are our top priorities:

* THE GLOBAL ECONOMY - We are all facing a long recession due in large part to the excesses of unregulated Anglo-Saxon financial capitalism that your predecessor championed.

The mess you will inherit will make it even harder for you to keep your campaign promises. Please don't let your budget deficit and national debt run wild.

While our deficits are forecast to rise to around the EU treaty limit of three percent of gross domestic product, the U.S. deficit is set to balloon to an unsustainable 9 percent of GDP unless you take quick remedial action.

The best early confidence boost you could give the global economy would be to let President Bush in his lame-duck period conclude a world trade deal he should have accepted last July.

We know you made some protectionist noises during the campaign, but we doubt you really meant them and we count on you to deliver congressional approval of a WTO agreement.

Please show your support for reforming the international financial system by sending your economic advisers as observers in the U.S. delegation to next week's G20 summit on the credit crisis. That brings us to our next priority.

* GLOBAL GOVERNANCE - The balance of power has shifted away from the West in eight years of the Bush administration while the institutions of global governance have stood still.

The United Nations is suffering from malign neglect. NATO has bet the store on the war in Afghanistan but is not winning. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank urgently need to redistribute power to emerging nations and get more funds to help overcome the impact of the financial crisis.

It may prove impossible to reform the U.N. Security Council but it is worth another try. The Group of Eight industrialized nations, a key informal body for global governance, should be expanded to embrace the rising economic powers of Asia, Latin America and Africa, even though not all are democracies.