President Bush was greeted by President Jacques Chirac with a handshake and a smile when he descended from his helicopter in the garden of the Hôtel Royal here yesterday. Lara Marlowe reports from Évian
This was the sign the financial markets had waited for - that the transatlantic rift sparked by the Iraq war was healing.
Mr Bush's favourite topic - the "war against terrorism" - will be the subject of discussion at lunch today. By leaving immediately thereafter for the Middle East, Mr Bush will avoid the afternoon session dedicated to sustainable development, African debt, the fight against hunger and the environment.
The pair yesterday went through all the motions. Mr Bush brought a gift of three leather-bound volumes on the culture, art and civilisation of American Indians. Strange as it seemed, a lot of thought went into it for Mr Chirac's passion outside politics is what he calls early - never "primitive" - art.
Officially, the National Security adviser, Ms Condoleezza Rice, in an interview published yesterday by Le Monde, and Mr Chirac's spokeswoman, Ms Catherine Colonna, in a briefing with journalists here, said their bosses were eager to move forward in their battered relations.
Asked whether they would discuss Iraq today, Ms Colonna said there were "a lot of other subjects" to cover. "There's no use returning to the past."
Yet in his press conference at the end of the first day of the G-8 Summit, attended by the leaders of the world's richest and most powerful countries, Mr Chirac gave a clipped answer to a question about his brief meeting with Mr Bush.
"Don't believe everything you're told. I met with President Bush in a very positive manner. These discussions will continue tomorrow and are in no way a source of worry or concern."
Three sentences; compared to a rambling, five-minute answer about the Brazilian president's proposal to use a tax collected on weapons sales to finance a fund against hunger.
Mr Chirac was unrepentant on the fundamental issue which separates him from the unilateralist US President. "I have no doubt whatsoever that my multi-polar vision of the world is supported by the vast majority of countries in the world."
Nor is Mr Bush likely to appreciate the French leader suggesting that, for the sake of continuity, the US presidency of the G-8 should follow his example in inviting the leaders of developing countries to the summit next year.
For despite all their efforts to present Évian as the Summit of Reconciliation, the US and French administrations appear stuck in a childish deadlock.
Washington insists that Paris should apologise, while the French insist they've done nothing wrong. Americans were "disappointed" and "troubled" that the French "considered US power as more dangerous than Saddam Hussein, to put it bluntly," Ms Rice told Le Monde. "It's something we simply don't understand."
Washington was still steaming over the way Mr Chirac scolded east European candidate countries for signing a letter supporting Mr Bush.
"We also thought that we were in agreement that there was no conflict between the European identity and the transatlantic identity," she said. "So we don't understand why the east Europeans were asked to behave better, nor why they were told in a certain way that their transatlantic commitment could weaken their position in Europe."
In several recent interviews, Mr Bush has said that Paris needs to explain its position to the US people.
"Our position is well known," Ms Colonna said. Mr Chirac "has already, on many occasions, explained not only the position but the reasons behind it. We were defending the rule of law and the primacy of the Security Council."
Topics such as sustainable development, African debt, the fight against hunger and the environment have been embraced enthusiastically by Mr Chirac, partly in response to demonstrations by anti-globalisation protesters who yesterday staged a 70,000-strong march across the Franco-Swiss border.
At least 100 Irish activists were among the protesters. Some 49 of them left Dublin by coach on Friday, arriving in Geneva 30 hours later. They are staying at a campsite in Geneva and will return home today.
Mr Garrett Mullan and Mr Matthew Waine, both of Globalise Resistance Ireland, said their priority after yesterday's march would be to organise a comparable demonstration against the World Economic Forum in Dublin on October 20th, and to encourage Irish citizens to demand justice on social issues from their own government.
AFP adds: The EU has promised to commit $1 billion a year to a global fund against AIDS, the South African President, Mr Thabo Mbeki, said yesterday after talks at the summit. "They have made a decision to move immediately" in response to a US pledge to contribute $15 billion over five years to the fight against HIV and AIDS, he said.