German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU and G8 presidency, was counting on the annual US-EU summit in Washington to line up positions about climate change before the beginning of June, when she is to host the summit of eight developed countries back home in Germany.
But without a common stance on goals for reducing carbon emissions, the two parties risk making paltry statements of intent, particularly with US President George W. Bush’s position far from Merkel’s and EU Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso’s.
The 27 EU members agreed in March to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020, based on 1990 levels. Germany’s proposal was a more aggressive 40 percent cut by 2020.
Though differences persist over Bush’s "war on terror," Americans and Europeans have largely overcome tensions due to the US invasion of Iraq.
Still, the beleaguered US administration — caught up in a standoff with Democrats in Congress over war funding and troop withdrawal from Iraq — is in great need of international support.
And in those circumstances, bickering over greenhouse gases has become a serious bone of contention.
The US ambassador to the European Union, C. Boyden Gray, has warned against high expectations from Monday’s summit.
"The summit will not be a defining moment," he said. "Only one part of the journey."
Bush has refused to accept any imposition of limits on greenhouse gas emissions, saying it would harm the national economy.
Bush has pointed out that without the cooperation of the rapidly booming Chinese and Indian economies, emission cuts by other countries are in vain. And he has pressed for the development and use of new technologies.
Without any foreseeable agreement on global warming, Gray said "the real meat on the bone" of the talks will be in the realm of economic cooperation between the world’s two key economic blocs.
What is likely to emerge is a "transatlantic economic partnership" between Americans and Europeans.
Such a partnership would aim to synchronize regulations and standards in automotive or pharmaceutical industries or in intellectual property and public markets to entice investment and exchange.
A US-EU "open sky" accord on freeing up transatlantic air travel is expected, which would allow companies to fly anywhere in Europe or the United States beginning in March 2008.
Europeans hope that the United States will retract its visa demands for Eastern European countries which have recently been inducted into the European Union.
During three joint work sessions, Bush, Merkel and Barroso are also to bolster cooperation regarding Iran and its nuclear ambitions, the status of Kosovo, and on the proliferation of "terror." Iraq and Afghanistan are also to figure on the agenda.
EU diplomacy chief Javier Solana said Friday he would highlight the need for the United States to breaks its more than 25 years of silence with Iran and establish a "channel of communication" on all subjects.
The White House has not ruled out topics of discussion such as delicate relations with Russia and the reaction over the US anti-missile shield in Europe.
Observers agree that the summit rarely provides breakthroughs, and is even less likely to show any this year, as some European countries await political changes and the US campaigning for president in 2008 is well underway.