But the risk of new frictions remains high.

Armed with new peaceful rhetoric and looking forward to a European tour, the president is sending out signals that he would like to extend his hand to "friends and allies" on the other side of the Atlantic.

But Bush has also indicated that his good will has limits, pointing out that his re-election in November was a reaffirmation of his political decisions taken during the first term, including the most controversial ones like the war in Iraq.

"Bush has made it clear that he would like to improve relations," said Simon Serfaty, an analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Shortly after re-election, he quickly offered to go to Europe, in fact quicker than any of his predecessors did."

Serfaty believes that European should themselves adopt a positive tone, if they want Bush to avoid reverting to a strategy of dividing Europe that was so dear to some of the Washington hawks that dominated the president's first term.

Some of his nominations have been interpreted as an encouraging sign, particularly that of Robert Zoellick, the US trade representative who is slated to become deputy secretary of state under Condoleezza Rice, who has been appointed secretary of state.

The selection for this post of a man accustomed to multilateral negotiations and an expert in European affairs is "the first concrete evidence of a course correction on US-European relations," said Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent think tank.

However, some analysts urge caution, pointing out that Bush's entreaties could be self-serving and that specific steps were always expected.

"There is still a lot more symbolism in his approach (to Europe) than substance," said Ted Galen Carpenter, an expert with Cato Institute. "If there's going to be a repair to the relationship it's largely going to be on American terms."

"My sense is that the Bush administration does want to try to reverse the steady deterioration in transatlantic relations, and the rhetoric suggest an effort to mend fences," argued Charles Kupchan, another expert with the Council on Foreign Relations.

But he thinks this effort is largely driven by concern that the United States "is up to the eyeballs in troubles in Iraq," and it needs whatever help it can get in Iraq and just about every other front.

According to Kupchan, there is practically zero hope Bush will move forward on the Kyoto protocol on global warming and his opposition to the International Criminal Court, the two issues that have driven a wedge between him and European public opinion.

Bush's warm reaction to the election of new Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas is seen as a positive sign for the prospects of US re-engagement with the Israeli-Palestinian problem, a move that Europeans have been insisting upon.

But beyond rhetoric, there is lingering doubt about whether Washington is ready to resume its mediating role in the conflict.

US support for difficult negotiations conducted by Europeans in order to persuade Iran to renounce its nuclear weapons ambitions will be another test for transatlantic cooperation.

"We must remain united in insisting that Iran and North Korea abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions, and choose instead the path of peace," secretary of state-designate Rice said in an opening statement at her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Tuesday.

Tensions could resurface in July 2005 when the European Union is scheduled to lift its arms embargo against China, a plan viewed very negatively in Washington.

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