Spain's PM seeks to end four-year chill in ties with US

MADRID, April 8, 2008 (AFP) - Spain's re-elected Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said Tuesday he wants a 'new chapter' in relations with Washington after four years of frostiness over his government's withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

'We want to open a new chapter in our relations (with the US), looking to the future and based on mutual respect, to confront common challenges together,' he said in his first speech to parliament since his Socialist Party won a second term in March 9 elections.

When he was first elected in 2004, Zapatero drew Washington's ire by immediately withdrawing the Spanish contingent that was sent to Iraq by his conservative predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar.

Since then, the two countries have also clashed over Cuba.

Spain has a policy of constructive engagement with the communist country, a former Spanish colony, and opposes US policies aimed at isolating the island through economic sanctions and travel restrictions.

The Spanish press had speculated about possible bilateral talks between Zapatero and US President George W. Bush on the sidelines of the recent NATO summit in Bucharest, which would have signaled a thaw in relations. But such a meeting never materialised.

The Republican candidate for US president, John McCain, has also signaled his intention to revive relations with Spain if he is elected in November.

'This is the moment to leave behind discrepancies with Spain,' he said in an interview published in Sunday's edition of the newspaper El Pais.

'I would like (Zapatero) to visit the US. Zapatero is the first leader in Spain's democratic history who has not made such a visit in an official capacity,' he said.

'We have many more values and goals in common than differences that divide us,' said McCain.