KRANJ, Slovenia (AP) – European leaders said yes when President Bush prodded them to take tougher steps against Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons program. That’s what they put on paper, at least. But he may want to replay what they said in public.

Not a word about Iran.

Bush attended the last annual United States-European Union summit of his presidency, working against time on one of the top foreign priorities of his presidency. That’s halting Iran in its alleged ambition to join the global club of nuclear-armed nations.

“If they end up with a nuclear weapon, the free world’s going to say: ‘Why didn’t we do something about it at the time, before they developed it?”‘ Bush said. His somber words of warning contrasted with the lush scene on the sun-splashed lawn of Brdo Castle at the opening of a weeklong European farewell tour.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who as president of the European Council played host to the summit, stood at Bush’s side. A joint declaration adopted earlier by all the leaders seemed to signal their agreement with Bush. It said the United States and Europe “are ready” to follow three mostly symbolic rounds of United Nations sanctions with new versions if Iran does not stop enriching uranium, which can be used to power a nuclear plant or to make a bomb.

The declaration also said the nations would “work together … to take steps to ensure Iranian banks cannot abuse the international banking system to support proliferation and terrorism.”

“We’re going to continue to isolate you, we’ll continue to work on sanctions, we’ll find new sanctions if need be if you continue to defy the just demands of a free world,” Bush said, speaking passionately about an urgent need to halt Iran.

Neither Jansa nor Barroso said a thing on the topic, though, even when asked by reporters to do so.

Thus it was unclear whether the second pledge in the declaration meant Europeans had signed on for the kind of harsh measures the U.S. favors, such as banning business with Iranian banks, or whether it merely represented a repeat of previous calls for closer monitoring of dealings with them.

Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security adviser, acknowledged that nations have been reluctant to implement the latest round of U.N. sanctions against Iran. He said officials are waiting to see what happens when the EU’s foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, visits Iran soon to present a refreshed package of penalties and incentives to entice its leaders into negotiations over the nuclear standoff. The offer, an update of one from 2006 that went nowhere, is being developed by the United States, along with Britain, Germany, France, Russia, China, and possibly Italy.

Hadley said a rejection by Iran would open the door for the international community to “get much more aggressive” about enforcing the U.N. penalties. He said it also would allow nations to develop other steps together or act unilaterally to further squeeze Iran’s vast international business and banking relationships.

A solo U.S. effort to crimp Iran’s overseas financial operations has caused international banks to scale back their dealings with Iran. But neither the U.S. penalties nor those from the U.N. have done much to hurt the oil-rich nation.

And Iran has not only continued enriching uranium, but has expanded and improved its program. Iran says it seeks only civilian nuclear power. Though a December intelligence report said Iran shelved its warhead program five years ago, the Bush administration believes the continuing enrichment is part of a still-live plan to become nuclear-armed.

But since Washington severed ties with Iran nearly three decades ago, it needs cooperation from other nations that have meaningful economic ties to Tehran, such as Germany and France, to make any threats real. Assessments vary widely, but it is widely presumed Tehran’s enrichment activities will produce enough fissile material for a weapon within a few years

Bush continued to press his case later Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. He flew from Slovenia to the German government’s guesthouse about two hours north of Berlin for dinner with Merkel and formal talks on Wednesday.

“They can’t be trusted with enrichment,” Bush said flatly of Iran. “Now is the time for all of us to work together to stop them. There’s a lot of urgencies when it comes to dealing with Iran.”

But Jon Wolfsthal, an expert in the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said the Slovenia developments – whatever they eventually produce – probably won’t have much impact. Bush has little leverage with either Iran or Europe, and the chances of getting Russia and China to go along with any new U.N. sanctions proposal are remote, he said.

“These efforts are having an impact on the economic situation in Iran, but not enough to overcome the vast amounts of money being obtained through the high price of oil,” Wolfsthal said.

In Slovenia, Bush also received public endorsement of his main condition for a new global agreement on climate change: that fast-growing, energy-guzzling economies like China and India be subject to emissions-reduction requirements, not just developed nations.

“Unless China and India are at the table, unless they agree to a goal, unless they agree to firm strategies to achieve that goal, then I don’t see how any international agreement can be effective,” Bush said.

Jansa and Barroso agreed. “We need that agreement to be global, so of course, to add also China, India and others,” Barroso said.

Jansa said, however, that the developed world must take the lead, and that all emissions reduction goals should be mandatory – not voluntary as Bush has advocated.

Bush also fielded questions on economic woes at home.

He essentially rejected the idea of possible government intervention to prop up the declining value of the U.S. dollar. He said he believed in a strong-dollar policy but that world economies will end up setting the currency’s value in the right place.

—

Associated Press Writers Snjezana Vukic and William Kole in Kranj, Slovenia, contributed to this report.

—

On the Net:

U.S.-European Union summit: http://tinyurl.com/3vwqog

Transatlantic Economic Council: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/enterprise-policy/inter-rel/tec/index -en.htm

AP-ES-06-10-08 1622EDT