Bush start Europese rondreis in Italië (en)

US president George W. Bush has arrived in the Italian capital Rome at the start of a European tour as the US and her allies try to secure a deal on a new UN resolution on Iraq.

Starting in Rome, Mr Bush will mark the 60-year anniversary of the liberation of the Eternal City from Nazi occupation.

There he will meet with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, before making the short trip to the Vatican to visit Pope John Paul II.

According to reports, tens of thousands of police have been drafted in to limit the impact of protests timed to coincide with Mr Bush's visit.

From there he will travel on to Paris for talks with President Jacques Chirac and then onto Normandy where he will mark the 60th anniversary of D-Day landings.

The event, which for many marked the high point of the US-European relations, has brought the current state of the transatlantic partnership into sharp relief.

One year on since the US led invasion and divisions over Iraq still remain and tensions are still high.

Recent remarks by President Bush comparing the Iraq war to World War II are set to irk the French whose relationship with the US has not fully recovered from the pre-Iraq war build up.

But, at the same time Mr Bush appears to be launching a charm offensive, inviting President Chirac to his Texas ranch and, in an interview with Paris Match, portraying the divisions on Iraq as a mere difference of interpretation of one UN Security Council resolution.

In Normandy, as well as Mr Chirac, President Bush will meet the leaders of Germany and Russia, both of whom firmly opposed US military intervention in Iraq.

His main ally on Iraq, the UK Prime Minister Tony Blair will also be there.

It will be an important diplomatic test for Mr Bush who will try and secure backing for a UN resolution outlining the hand over of power to Iraqis.

He may also try and garner support for a NATO deployment to the country ahead of a summit of that organisation in Istanbul later this month.