United but falling apart?

Are there growing divisions between the EU and the US?

In the first of a new series of Analysis, Quentin Peel explores the neglected aspect of US and European relations.

In a single superpower world, how does Europe achieve its distinctive foreign policy goals when the decisions of its key ally in Washington cramp the EU style or simply conflict with it?

In different ways, the Europeans have sought to persuade Washington to use the UN and other international bodies to advance US goals.

But this has been difficult because determined Americans see the EU as too divided to carry much weight.

Joint interests?

So why have the Europeans found it so hard to get the US to do what should be in their joint interests - such as helping put back together countries scarred by military action?

And what is it that Americans really want of the Europeans?

Next January, Germany and Spain join Britain and France on the UN Security Council to create a powerful European bloc on the key decision-making body.

Drawing contributions from Washington, the United Nations in New York, Brussels, Paris and London, Quentin Peel asks how far the major European states will be able to use this opportunity to further their aims.

Do the current tensions over Iraq; Israel and the Palestinians; and the International Criminal Court, for example, mean the two sides of the Atlantic face further division rather than greater agreement?

And is Britain a bridge or a barrier to diplomatic harmony in Europe and across the Atlantic?

Presenter: Quentin Peel
Producer: Simon Coates
Editor: Nicola Meyrick

BBC Radio 4's Analysis: 'United but falling apart?' was broadcast on Thursday 31 October 2002 at 2030 GMT.