President George Bush's visit to Europe this week, his first trip abroad since his re-election, sends a clear message that he wants to improve relations with its leaders and set out an enduring programme of co-operation.
The desire to put transatlantic relations on a new footing is fully shared in Europe, following the deep and wide divisions that emerged in Mr Bush's first term. Many of them continue to persist intractably.
They cannot be wished away but must be tackled by a search for agreement on individual issues and by developing new and more equal structures for dialogue and co-operation. The success of this visit, during which Mr Bush will meet most of Europe's political leaders, will be measured by progress made in both these respects.
The list of major world issues to be discussed over the next four days is impressive and daunting, whether collectively with NATO and the EU or with individual states. Mr Bush wants more European involvement in Iraq, but realistically will have to be satisfied with modest shifts in European policy. He will need to demonstrate a real willingness to work with the EU initiative on Iran, since otherwise it will fail, with ill-will on all sides.
There is a good prospect for working together on the Israeli-Palestinian road map, given US readiness to keep up pressure on Israel. It is too early to say whether this will be sustained and broadened to deal with wider democratic change in the Middle East along the lines of Mr Bush's visionary agenda for his second term. There are similar difficulties around the EU's desire to lift its arms embargo with China and concerning future relations with Russia.
Alongside these marked differences on how to deal with individual states there are pronounced ones involving unilateralism, multilateralism and international law. On United Nations reform, using the International Criminal Court over Darfur, the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the Geneva Conventions, the profound transatlantic disagreements over the last four years remain badly in need of repair.
Mr Bush last week recognised existential differences between the US and Europe arising from the 9/11 attacks. He said these fundamentally changed American threat perceptions and foreign policy doctrines whereas they were seen in Europe as more passing and capable of being overcome. As a result, the two sides have been talking past one another. He has shown a welcome readiness to address such differing perceptions in interviews with European media ahead of the visit and will have a real opportunity to do so in his face-to-face meetings this week, where he is on stronger ground. He has a large credibility gap to make up with European public opinion.
These meetings signify a major shift in transatlantic relations to recognise new realities of power. In the longer term this will need to be recognised by new institutional structures which should be based on a more equal relationship.