Europe: Friend or foe to Bush?

(CNN) -- When U.S. President George W. Bush arrives in the Austrian capital of Vienna for the European Union Summit this week, just how many friends will he have?

Summits are all about making friends and influencing people. But keeping buddies in Europe hasn't been easy for Bush.

French President Jacques Chirac clashed with him over Iraq. And Bush's friends keep moving on. Former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar of Spain retired and was replaced by the leftist Jose Luis Rodrigues Zapatero who immediately pulled Spain's troops from Iraq.

Italy's former leader Silvio Berlusconi lost an election to Romano Prodi, who can't wait to get Italian troops out of Iraq. And British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the best buddy of all, is expected to leave office next year having lost a lot of support.

It hasn't been all bad for Bush though. Gerhard Schroder, his other main European adversary on Iraq, lost his election last year. And Angela Merkel, the new German Chancellor, is making a friend in the White House, even if she does want Guantanamo Bay closed.

And some say there's a warmer reception in Europe generally for the second term Bush.

"He and his chief advisers like Condoleezza Rice, the Secretary of State, have made a big effort to adopt a softer, calmer more moderate tone. That means not to lecture us, to hector us, but actually to talk to us about common issues and not simply to try to impose their views on us", says Charles Grant from the Center for European Reform.

There may be tensions over Guantanamo Bay and climate change. But the United States and Europe have worked closely on Iran's nuclear program. They make identical demands of Hamas.

And U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's challenge to Russia's Vladimir Putin, telling him not to use his power as Europe's main energy supplier for political 'blackmail' was quietly welcomed in Europe-- even if EU leaders have to play a subtler game.

"The Europeans too are very worried about Russia. But because we are next door to Russia, because we take its energy, we feel we have to talk to them," says Grant.

When Russia's Gazprom cut off supplies to Ukraine in January it sent shivers all across a Europe increasingly dependent on Russian gas.

So EU leaders will want to know more about the pipeline Cheney recently persuaded Kazakhstan to build for gas from the Caspian Sea -- a pipeline avoiding Russia.

For both Bush and the EU leaders heading on to a G8 summit in Russia next month, the security of energy supplies will figure high on the list.

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