European leaders will this week try to persuade US President Mr George W. Bush to relax his opposition to the Kyoto protocol, the Washington Postreported today.
European officials said British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, French President Mr Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schroeder intended to emphasise to Mr Bush Europe's dismay at US policy on the UN-sponsored Kyoto protocol on global warming.
A two-week meeting of all the parties to the 1997 agreement on global climate change begins in Bonn today.
Mr Bush heads to Europe this week for a visit that will be highlighted by a Group of Seven Summit in Genoa, Italy, starting on Friday. He has rejected the Kyoto pact as fatally flawed on the grounds it would damage US economic interests.
The UN-sponsored protocol would force industrial powers to cut greenhouse gas emissions to 5.2 per cent less than 1990 levels by 2012.
British officials said when Mr Blair and Mr Bush spent next Thursday night at the British prime minister's country retreat, Mr Blair would stress the importance of US leadership in keeping Kyoto alive and preserving Western solidarity, the paper reported.