BRUSSELS: European Union governments were quick off the mark to join US President George W. Bush’s war against terrorism, pledging troops, equipment and money to America’s battle against Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

As the 15 EU states vowed to stand “shoulder-to-shoulder” with the United States, Nato allies took the historic step of invoking the alliance’s collective defence clause for the first time, agreeing unanimously that the assault on the World Trade Center was tantamount to “an attack against them all.”

Initial euphoria to act was, however, followed quickly by disappointment when the United States opted for bilateral help from allies rather than joint Nato support.

A year on, vows of solidarity with the United States still resonate strongly through Europe’s corridors or powers. But accompanying them are increasingly deep-felt — and strongly expressed — fears about the policies and priorities of the world’s one and only superpower.

Nato Secretary General George Robertson tried to raise the alliance’s profile by pressing European governments to spend more on defence and step up armaments cooperation. But even Robertson’s insistence that anti-terrorism operations were now a key goal of the alliance has done little to lift Nato’s, and Europe’s, post-September 11 blues.

Yes, armies are sometimes needed to fight terrorists, said senior EU policymakers. But Europe’s message to Washington is also unrelentingly clear: Stamping out terror is about more than just wars and military campaigns.

“Combating terrorism requires a multipronged approach, focusing on fighting chaos, anarchy, poverty and deprivation,” an EU diplomat said. “Terrorism does not come from a vacuum. ... Political measures are required to deal with its many causes.”

Not surprisingly, EU leaders, with the exception of Britain’s Tony Blair, remain vehemently opposed to any US attack on Iraq.

Given the absence of cast-iron evidence linking Baghdad to September 11, Europeans warned that military action against Baghdad will add to existing Middle East tensions and spark more anti-Western terrorism.

They also make no secret of their dismay at Bush’s call for a change in the Palestinian leadership and America’s unstinting support for the hardline policies of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Moreover, there is little sympathy in any EU capital for Washington’s “axis of evil” rhetoric against Iraq, Iran and North Korea. In clear defiance of pressure from the United States and Israel, European foreign ministers agreed in June to start talks on a first-ever trade and cooperation agreement with Teheran.

“Of course, we must oppose what is evil, but we must also build on what is good,” European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten warned recently.

Trans-Atlantic differences are not just confined to foreign policy.

On a host of issues ranging from the setting-up of the International Criminal Court to the Kyoto environment protocol, population control and sustainable development, EU policymakers admit to shock and dismay at the Bush administration’s determined spirit of unilateralism and focus on narrow domestic interests.

In the days after September 11, it was otherwise. “It seemed that the US had rediscovered its need for allies to confront this common menace,” Patten said.

But Patten warned that the rapid military success against the Taliban had “perhaps reinforced some dangerous instincts: that the projection of military power is the only basis for true security, that the US can rely on itself and that allies may be useful as an optional extra but that the US is big and strong enough to manage without them”.

Still, America’s anti-terrorism drive has had a direct impact on Europe’s own domestic and global agenda.

Acting quickly after September 11, the bloc’s 15 governments agreed on tough new anti-terrorism measures, including reinforced police cooperation, stepped-up security links with the United States and stricter border controls.

Tougher air transport security rules were hammered out for both domestic and international routes.

Determined to cut off all sources of financing for terrorists, EU governments drew up a common blacklist of global terrorist groups and froze their financial assets. In addition to Osama bin Laden and the Al Qaeda terrorist network, the list included the United Self- Defence Forces of Colombia, the PKK or Kurdish Workers’ Party, the Kashmiri Islamic extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba and Egypt’s Gama’a al-Islamiyya.

Also identified as terrorists were four Palestinian groups, including the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and the Palestine Liberation Front.

September 11 impacted strongly on Europe’s common foreign and security policy ambitions, spurring governments to forge ahead with the creation of a 60,000-strong European Rapid Reaction Force to undertake humanitarian and peacekeeping mission as of 2003.

In foreign policy, Europe also focused on building closer ties with Arab and Muslim nations — although tirades against Islam by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi did not help.—dpa