So low were European expectations – Mr Bush had recently announced his opposition to the Kyoto Protocol to combat climate change – that his relaxed but combative style impressed big hitters such as the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schr?.In response to 11 September, European leaders competed for Mr Bush’s favours. Tony Blair has been pushing hard to make Britain’s “special relationship” with America count. He has faced competition from the Spanish premier, Jose Maria Aznar, and the Italian leader, Silvio Berlusconi. Even Jacques Chirac, the French President, has been careful not to drift too far from the US.This goodwill produced some results, most notably increased co-operation on extradition and other judicial matters.

But, as one official put it yesterday: “There is a divergence between us on long-held policies, ones which the EU has developed over the years and which cannot suddenly be changed to suit Washington’s whim.”The Middle East presents a good example. A clear difference of emphasis persists, with America reluctant to put pressure on the Israelis. In Washington, the recent success of European far-right parties has been seen as evidence of anti-Semitism. For the EU, which has spent millions of euros building up the infrastructure of the Palestinian Authority, it can hardly do anything but complain when Ariel Sharon’s army bulldozes that work.Similarly President Bush’s “axis of evil” speech, in which he linked North Korea and Iran with international terrorism, was an implicit criticism of EU policy. The EU has been trying to build bridges with both of these nations and, in the case of Iran, gone a long way towards establishing a rapport.Although the EU’s trade disputes with America are greatly overshadowed by the volume of normal business, they pose a big threat. The American decision to impose tariffs on steel imports, and its recent Farm Bill – criticised for being protectionist – have paved the way for EU retaliation.But perhaps the biggest rift is over America’s role in a world where it has military superiority.

Such is the disparity between defence spending in Europe and the US, the Pentagon finds the simpler and more effective option is to go it alone in military forays.To some in America this typifies European weakness, to some Europeans it illustrates an alarming tendency towards unilateralism.Whether such differences can be papered over if and when Washington takes on Iraq remains to be seen.. The coalition government in Turkey held a summit meeting in a hospital ward yesterday as the increasingly frail Prime Minister, Bulent Ecevit, faced growing calls to step down due to ill health. He has appeared shaky and made several public blunders.But the ruling elite is desperate to keep Mr Ecevit, a staunch secularist, in power because he has no natural successor and there are fears that his departure would lead to a return to power for Islamists.”Nothing is clear after Ecevit,” said a commentator in the Milliyet daily, Hasan Cemal. “The entire political structure could collapse.”The 76-year-old veteran leader was admitted to the hospital on Friday – the second time in 10 days. He is being treated for an infection in his leg and a cracked rib sustained in a fall, apparently off a chair.As the country struggles to climb out of its worst recession since the Second World War, the sight of Mr Ecevit inching his way up hospital steps sent the Turkish currency to its lowest point since last autumn, and the stock market plummeted.The leaders of the three-party coalition met at the Ankara Baskent hospital where Mr Ecevit is being treated. They issued a statement afterwards ruling out an early election.