Mideast, steel top EU-U.S. agenda

Prodi is heading to Washington for the EU-U.S. summit this weekend

BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- Terrorism, the Middle East and steel tariffs will top the agenda at this weekend's U.S.-European Union summit.

On the eve of his trip to Washington, European Commission President Romano Prodi described the EU-U.S. relationship as "one of the most intensive relationships in the world."

"With the changes taking place in Europe and in the world, the EU is taking on a very high-level role, and this will be a summit between mature and serious partners that are engaged in daily cooperation," the former Italian prime minister said.

Prodi praised the co-operation between Europe and the United States since the September 11 terrorist attacks and said that "issues relating to the fight against terrorism have surged to the top of our agenda."

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But other issues will also be at the forefront of discussions, he said.

Chief among those is likely to be tariffs on imported steel imposed by U.S. President George W. Bush in March to aid the ailing U.S. steel industry.

Those tariffs, Prodi said, give an already overprotected "American steel industry even more protection."

"We had no choice but to react," he said, referring to an official complaint lodged with the World Trade Organization claiming that the United States violated WTO rules.

"I'm confident the WTO will rule against the U.S. measures."

Bush slapped tariffs of up to 30 percent on steel imported into the United States, exempting Canada and Mexico, parties to the North American Free Trade Agreement, and developing countries.

The European Commission responded by proposing tariffs of its own on a range of items, including clothing, citrus fruit, linens and steel products.

Prodi praised U.S. efforts to end a standoff at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters in the West Bank, saying he was "pleased that the U.S. persuaded Israel to ... allow Arafat to move freely."

But he firmly rejected Israel's refusal to cooperate with a U.N. fact-finding mission into an Israeli operation at the Jenin refugee camp.

"I'm going to urge President Bush to use his influence to persuade Prime Minister (Ariel) Sharon and the Israeli government to pull out their forces from all occupied territories and give their full co-operation to the international community," the EC chief said.

"The continuing refusal ... of the Israelis to allow the U.N. fact-finding mission to go ahead in Jenin is unacceptable."

But Prodi also called on Arafat and the Palestinians "to do everything in their power to stop the suicide bombers."

"The security of the state of Israel must not be compromised," he said, pledging EU support to help the Palestinian leadership accomplish that goal.

Prodi also said that he would "remind President Bush" that the current efforts to bring peace to the region "are only intermediate solutions" and that a last peace can only be achieved with "wide international cooperation."