US President Mr George W. Bush will next week stress to European allies, sceptical about his missile defense and global warming policies, that America has much in common with Europe, said a top aide today.
National Security Adviser Ms Condoleezza Rice said Mr Bush, who leaves on Monday on his first official trip to Europe, would argue for a new security framework for the region, with less reliance on nuclear weapons to keep the peace.
Mr Bush will visit Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Poland and Slovenia on a six-day trip - his first overseas travel as president. He will visit NATO headquarters in Brussels, meet European leaders at a US-European Union summit in Sweden and have his first meeting with Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin in Slovenia.
He is likely to face some tough questioning on his proposals for a missile defense system against what Washington sees as the threat of nuclear attack from states such as North Korea and Libya.
The allies are also concerned about US policy after Mr Bush's abandonment of the 1992 Kyoto treaty, which requires industrial nations to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases thought to cause global warming.
US officials said Mr Bush was likely to express his views on international efforts to fight global warming during his trip but was unlikely to offer a detailed alternative to the Kyoto climate treaty.
Ms Rice said a high-ranking working group on a Kyoto alternative had yet to finish its work and was still deciding what it wishes to say to the president before he goes to Europe.
Mr Bush has been sceptical in the past about whether science has proved conclusively that greenhouse gases are the cause of global warming.