Themes of Obama’s European tour highlight changes since his election

As he enters the second half of his term, security issues, in South Asia and the broader Middle East, have replaced the economy as the chief shared interests of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful allies.

The war in Afghanistan, the stalled rebellion in Libya, the crackdown in Syria and the wider implications of the changes emerging from the Arab Spring will occupy a large portion of the president’s time as he travels from Ireland to Poland over six days.

The world economy, recovering at different paces in different regions, has slipped from its boldface top spot on the transatlantic agenda. In detailing the upcoming Group of Eight summit in France, one French diplomat last week listed the economy as Part B of Topic 3 — following “freedom and democracy” and “peace and security.”

Leavened by a few cultural stops, including a likely pint of Guinness with distant relatives in Moneygall, Ireland, Obama’s meetings and public remarks will be guided by issues of war and peace on a continent that has at times felt squeezed out by this president’s attention to Asia.

Part of his goal, according to advisers and analysts, will be to underline the central importance of Europe and the alliances there that Obama pledged to reinvigorate on taking office. His promise served as a break from the previous administration, which pointedly divided the continent into “old Europe” and the newer democracies of Central and Eastern Europe that more fully supported U.S. counterterrorism strategy.

“Maybe this is an overstatement, but I see this as an opportunity for a reset of the European relationship,” said Heather A. Conley, director of the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “European leaders have really been struggling with where they fit. They had enormous expectations for this president, but they’re now wondering, ‘Is it that different after all?’ ”

Obama’s first trip to Europe in the spring of 2009 was marked by his celebrity and the world’s economic peril.

He was greeted at the Group of 20 meeting in London as a star, and fellow world leaders clamored to be seen with him. Eight years of the administration of George W. Bush, whose often unilateral approach to many policies, including the decision to invade Iraq, had alienated many European leaders and publics.

Obama promised a return to partnership, through NATO, the G-8 and G-20, and the European Union.

His senior advisers say he has managed to remake the U.S. relationship with Europe by working through the global economic crisis, expanding the war in Afghanistan with European support and, most recently, by moving against Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi with a NATO-led military effort.

“This trip very much underscores the extent to which he has achieved that with our closest allies and partners in Europe,” said Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, the National Security Council’s senior director for European affairs.