The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, faces a cool welcome when he arrives in Brussels today for meetings with European foreign ministers and officials.By Denis Staunton in Brussels.
Mr Powell will attend a joint meeting of EU and NATO foreign ministers and hold separate talks with the Russian foreign minister, Mr Igor Ivanov.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, will attend the joint EU-NATO meeting.
However, Mr Powell will later meet NATO foreign ministers without the representatives of the EU's four neutral states or EU officials.
Diplomats made clear yesterday that no decisions are likely today, although the talks are likely to focus on the future of Iraq after the war.
The EU, although deeply divided over the war itself, is united in its support for a strong role for the United Nations in rebuilding political institutions in Iraq. Mr Powell said last week the US wants "significant and dominating control" over Iraq's future after the conflict ends.
However, the Greek prime minister, Mr Costas Simitis, whose country holds the EU presidency, said yesterday that allowing those who attacked Iraq to control the post-war political reconstruction would spark new conflicts in the region.
"In the eyes of Iraqis and the Arab world in general the identification of those responsible for the reconstruction with those who attacked their country will undermine the rebuilding effort.
"Only the United Nations can play a leading role in the case of Iraq because only the UN can avoid an explosion of nationalism," he said.
Despite its involvement in the war in Iraq, Britain is backing EU demands for what Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair called a "robust mandate" for the UN in post-war Iraq.
Mr Blair has also proposed putting Iraq's oil fields under the control of a UN trust for the benefit of the Iraqi people - a suggestion that has found little resonance in Washington.
During his meeting with NATO foreign ministers, Mr Powell is likely to repeat Washington's call, made last December, for NATO to play a role in post-war Iraq.
France and Germany, which oppose the war, are likely to refuse to discuss such a plan while the war is in progress because they believe that any such agreement would appear to give NATO approval to the US-led action in Iraq.
Mr Powell usually receives a warmer reception in Europe than other members of the US administration but many European Union governments have become convinced that the Secretary of State has lost influence in Washington.
They are especially alarmed by remarks by figures such as the former US defence official, Mr Richard Perle, suggesting that Washington should turn its back on the United Nations after the war in Iraq is over.