Bush faces opposition on Kyoto

There was cordiality amid tough talking during Bush's NATO visit

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- U.S. President George W. Bush is set to face strong opposition to his environmental policy in Sweden on Thursday.

The president is expected to be quizzed on his rejection of the 1997 Kyoto climate protocol when he attends a summit of the 15-nation European Union leaders.

He is also likely to be confronted by protests by anti-U.S., anti- E-U, and anti-globalisation activists during his stay -- the first in Sweden by a U.S. president.

Police estimate that between 10,000 and 25,000 protesters will converge on Gothenburg, Sweden's second-largest city.

A further 12,000 are believed to be planning to hold rallies throughout the city, where Bush will begin his visit with a trip to Gunnebo Slott, an 18th-century castle.

Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson has attempted to placate would-be protesters with a statement in which he called on the need for a strong EU to balance U.S. power.

The statement from the centre-left prime minister and current EU president said: "It's (EU) one of the few institutions we can develop as a balance to U.S. domination."

'Delaying tactic'

Before Bush arrived in Europe for his five-day tour, EU environment ministers had rejected his latest initiatives to study climate change, calling them short on action.

They urged Bush to change his mind, but the president said the 1997 agreement on global warming was fatally flawed.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour said "European leaders are expected to disagree with Bush's olive branch."

She said some European leaders believed the scientific research, which forms the basis of the treaty, is good enough to act upon now and that any further studies will be a "delaying tactic."

Persson said: "We think that the Kyoto protocol is a necessary document, necessary process. I am convinced that we will agree to disagree about substance."

The treaty had been negotiated by the Clinton administration but never ratified by the U.S. Senate.

Robert Zoellick, the U.S. trade representative, said: "For all the to-ing and fro-ing, this is a critical aspect of restarting the dialogue, because Kyoto wasn't going to go anywhere in the United States or many other countries."

Other issues on the agenda are a new round of international trade liberalisation negotiations, the prospects for peace in the Middle East and the security and human rights situation in North Korea.

Bush said he expected to discuss with EU leaders their plan to create a 60,000-strong military force to perform non-combat missions, such as peacekeeping, where NATO opts not to act.

"The United States would welcome a capable European force," so long as it is "properly integrated" with NATO and take into account the views of non-EU members of NATO, such as Turkey, he said.

Bush is in Sweden after an informal NATO summit held in Brussels on Wednesday.

The president had been optimistic that he had made progress on the issue of a defence missile system.

After the meeting, he conceded there was "some nervousness" but that he was "making progress" and that fears were being allayed when the scheme was explained.

But France, Germany and Russia still expressed reservations.

France said the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which the missile defence would replace, was a "pillar" of security.

Germany questioned the technical abilities of the scheme, while Igor Sergeyev, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow was still determined to retain the ABM treaty and that Russia's position was "categorical and unchanged."

Bush's European tour, which will also take in Poland and Slovenia, is due to reach its climax on Saturday when he holds his first meeting with Putin.