WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The formal accession of ten new members into the European Union (EU) on Saturday has caused fresh expectations and worries from the United States, analysts say.

    The United States, enthusiastic about the EU expansion as a way of diluting the EU, does not see the enlargement as a challenge to the US supremacy in the near future. However, the EU will ultimately become a challenger to the United States in the long term, analysts say.

    US FAVORS EU EXPANSION

    "The United States welcomes greatly to the EU enlargement. It is always the aim of the United States to see the countries of the former Soviet bloc integrated into European and transatlantic structures," says Robin Niblett, executive vice president and senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

    "The United States sees the expansion more likely as positive from a strategic perspective because the majority of the countriesjoining the EU are pro-American and its foreign policy," Niblett says.

    Moreover, "The EU enlargement consolidates the eastward spread of democracy and capitalism," which is in the interests of the United States, says Charles Kupchan, director of Europe Studies atthe Council of Foreign Relations.

    The accession of these new members not only expands the European market for American products, but also makes sure that the EU will be a very loose arrangement instead of a tight federation. "At least the EU will get much more decentralized," says Ted Galen Carpenter, vice president for Defense and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute.

    "The United States does not see the EU expansion as a challenge.The United States is always worried about a united EU, but it is not worried about a very large and weak EU, and that is what is going to happen with this expansion," Carpenter says.

    Nonetheless, an enlarged EU, with a population of 450 million and an economy equal-sized with that of the United States, will eventually pose challenges to the United States, Kupchan says.

    The EU will take steps necessary to streamline and make its institution more effective and there will be more geopolitical divergence between the EU and the United States over time, Kupchansays, noting that the euro has become the second globally observedcurrency after the US dollar.

    US WANTS A STRONG, COOPERATIVE EU

    "The United States wants a strong Europe that does not resent or compete against the US leadership," Niblett says.

    According to Niblett, the United States would like to see a strong EU with both powerful economic and military capabilities sothat the EU could help ease the US pressure of managing the world economy, get more involved in resolving future crisis or conflictsand share the burden of global action or international peace-keeping with the United States.

    However, the United States will not encourage the EU to become "too active" because the EU does not always agree with the world's sole super power. "The United States likes to see a strong and cooperative Europe, but not a strong and competitive Europe," Niblett says.

    The EU has been trying to pursue an independent foreign policy as well as its independent defense separate from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and this has rattled the United States.

    The United States, the security provider for the EU during the Cold War against the Soviet Union, will continue to block the EU independent defense "as much as it can" in ways "both subtle and sometimes not so subtle," but the EU independent defense trend will continue regardless of Washington's wishes, Carpenter says.

    "If the current state of affairs continues, the United States and the EU will day by day become competitors rather than partners,because there is growing concern in Europe about the direction of American foreign policy. There is growing concern in America aboutEurope playing the role of counterweight to the United States," according to Kupchan.

    US HAS TO LISTEN MORE TO EU

    In the face of growing tension between the United States and the EU, both sides need to make great efforts to reduce friction and restore good will, analysts say.

    "The United States has to be prepared to give more influence toEurope. It has to be prepared to listen more to its allies. It hasto be more multilateral and consensual in its approach. It needs to be much more concerned about its legitimacy abroad, not just its material power," Kupchan says.

    Kupchan advises the US government to take steps to restore goodwill abroad. For example, The united State could make a new initiative on global warming or a commitment to reduce gasoline consumption. "These sorts of steps could be important in winning back public opinion in Europe," he says.

    The United States has taken steps to mend fences with Germany and France, the nucleus of the "Old Europe" that has strongly opposed to the US-led Iraq war. While the nations of the so-called"New Europe," or the Central and East European countries, have been closely following the United States by dispatching troops to support the US-led coalition and open their skies to US warplanes during the Iraq war.

    However, the Central and East European governments have been doing so by going against the wills of their peoples as polls haveshown that a majority of Central and East Europeans are against the Iraq war.

    "As time goes on, the new members of the EU will need to make common cause with France, Germany and other nations of the so-called 'Old Europe' because of their economic interests. And countries like Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary will have policies closer to Paris and Berlin than to the policies adopted by Washington," Carpenter says.

    "As a matter of fact, Washington hopes that the 'New Europe' will side with America against the nations of the 'Old Europe' within the EU are misplaced," Carpenter says.

    With an increasingly unilateral United States and a more and more divergent EU, "the close Cold War alliance is gone for good and now it is moving into a new phase," Kupchan says.

    "Unless both sides reverse course, it is conceivable that therewill be rivalry between the two. It is hard to imagine that there will be militarized rivalry and the two could become enemies, but it is conceivable that they could take opposing stances on many issues, as they have done over the past three years," Kupchan says.

    To Carpenter, the rift between the United States and the EU is likely to become sharper. "It is not that the United States and the EU will become enemies or adversaries, but they will become two identities with very different interests, very different perspectives," Carpenter says. Enditem