BRUSSELS, April 25 (Reuters) - Forget "old" and "new" Europe. Some of the countries most hostile to the U.S. invasion of Iraq are now keenest on closer transatlantic cooperation, while some of Washington's allies in the war are now the most sceptical, an opinion poll published on Wednesday showed. The transatlantic opinion survey for Germany's Bertelsmann Foundation suggested the distinction drawn in 2003 by then U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld between an "old Europe" led by France and Germany, and a "new Europe" spanning the ex-communist central European countries is no longer valid. Germans are now the most enthusiastic backers of cooperation with the United States on issues ranging from climate change to promoting democracy and securing energy supplies, the poll by the TNS Emnid institute found. The results, perhaps reflecting Chancellor Angela Merkel's new priority for building transatlantic relations, showed 90 percent of Germans want to work more with Washington to fight global warming, 84 percent on spreading democracy and 80 percent on energy security The French are still less keen on cooperating with the United States, specially on trade and democracy, but they have been joined by Italy, Austria, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. But support for transatlantic cooperation on global challenges is growing among the Finns and Spanish, despite hostility to the Iraq war. In the United States, the poll showed about 80 percent support for greater coordination with Europe on climate protection, controlling the potential spread of nuclear weapons to countries such as Iran, and ensuring a secure energy supply. "The period of uncertain reflection on the state of relations following the discord over the Iraq conflict has been replaced by a pragmatic rapprochement," said Gregor Peter Schmitz of the Bertelsmann Foundation. The survey of 12,000 people in the United States and 11 European countries was conducted in March and published ahead of the annual Brussels Forum of opinion leaders on transatlantic cooperation which begins on Friday. Closer economic partnership and cooperation on climate change are the two main themes of an EU-U.S. summit in Washington next Monday. But while the two sides have made good progress on moves to cut red tape, they remain at loggerheads on action to fight global warming.
