President Jacques Chirac has signalled his readiness to breathe fresh life into US-French relations, proposing to US President George Bush that they work together to turn 2005 into a year of transatlantic trust and unity.
The two leaders are now due to meet and hold talks in Washington in the coming weeks, sometime before or after Bush's scheduled 22 February trip to Europe. Bush's last visit to Paris was in June 2004, while Chirac has not travelled to Washington since November 2001. Their meeting is expected to focus on the situation in the Middle East, Iraq and Iran. During his stay in Europe, Bush will also hold talks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin.
The new overture by Chirac comes on the heels of a dispute between the two countries over the US's war in Iraq. During his trip to the US in December 2004, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier called for transatlantic ties to be reassessed, and the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, spoke about a "fresh start" to EU-US relations following his recent meeting with incoming US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Ahead of Bush's scheduled February trip, Rice also expects to visit allied leaders in Europe.
In his annual foreign policy speech in Paris on 6 January, Chirac sent a warm personal greeting to Bush upon his re-election. "I hope that together, with the international community, we will go into the new year with unity, trust and determination, and that the challenges we face will be opportunities to show the vitality of the transatlantic link," he said.
According to White House spokesman Scott McClellan, President Bush "made it very clear at the outset of the post-election period that he was going to be doing more to reach out to our European friends and allies so that we can work together to solve common problems that we face".
