SHARP differences between the US and Europe over sanctions against states alleged to sponsor terrorism will be voiced at the G7 Summit in Lyons which begins its formal business today. Leaders of the world's seven most industrialised countries will seek agreement on new measures against international terrorism at the summit, which was originally to be dominated by economic issues.
Last night, after a working dinner, the leaders of the US, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada announced their foreign ministers will meet in Paris next month to discuss new anti-terrorism measures.
The US President, Mr Bill Clinton, put the issue at the top of the agenda yesterday in the wake of the killing of 19 Americans and the wounding of 400 people by an Islamist bomb in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. Two unknown groups, believed to be Islamist extremists, said they planted the bomb in protest at the US military presence in Saudi Arabia.
After last night's dinner, the seven issued a strong condemnation of the Dhahran bomb "and other recent terrorist outrages". The IRA bombing of Manchester is understood to have been one of the recent attacks mentioned during the discussion.
The dinner, on the eve of the formal G7 summit, was initially to provide an opportunity for the leaders to discuss relations with Russia and China, but the wave of revulsion in the US at the killings ensured that at least some of the time was taken up with the response to terrorism.
"Terrorism is on our minds today because of the cowardly bombing in Saudi Arabia," President Clinton said here yesterday. Speaking during a visit to Perouges, near Lyons, he said he expected the G7 "to adopt 40 very specific recommendations to combat crime and terror, to increase our efforts to prevent terrorists from committing their crimes and our ability to track, catch and punish them when they do."
Many of the proposals, which emerged after a US initiative at blast year's G7 Summit in Nova Scotia, will be uncontentious. They include increasing international police and intelligence cooperation, new measures against money laundering, the easing of extradition procedures and steps to prevent international financial and technological crimes.
A major bone of contention between the US and its European partners, however, is the American legislation punishing foreign firms for doing business with states that the US believes are sponsors of terrorism. Such legislation already exists in relation to Cuba and is proposed for companies doing business with Iraq and Libya.
Europeans object to the US deciding to penalise non-US companies in pursuit of American foreign policy goals in Cuba and elsewhere. The US legislation - the Helms-Burton law - US citizens to sue those business with Cuba and such people entry to the US.
Before last night's dinner, President of the European Commission, Mr Jacques Santer, implicitly criticised the US imposing this legislation in face of European opposition. "It is vital in future that we all act together," he said. "Such sanctions should only be imposed if negotiation and dialogue do not work, and if the punishment hits the criminal and fits the crime."
He also said European governments would continue to engage in critical dialogue" with Iran, despite the US claim the regime is a major sponsor of terrorism.
The other area of EU/US tension centres on the European wish to see the US pay its bills to international organisations, particularly the UN. The US owes £1 billion to the UN and its recent decision to veto Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, who wants a second term as UN Secretary General, has exacerbated those tensions.
The French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, is expected to renew his regular call for the co-ordination of macro-economic policies of the G7, but the other members are unlikely to want to relinquish independence of action.