With only weeks to go before the US general elections, it is no secret that Europe hopes for a new US administration. A recent survey showed a victory for Senator John Kerry is favoured by a large majority of Europeans.
But if Senator Kerry is elected, there are growing doubts about how his government would help mend the transatlantic rift created by the war in Iraq.
Both the US and Europe - particularly France and Germany, the European Union's leading opponents of the war in Iraq - would welcome the chance to revitalise the flagging friendship. But as Iraq sinks deeper into chaos, disagreements on how to deal with the crisis will be hard to put right.
'Kerry's election would be embarrassing for France,' said Frederic Bozo, professor of international relations at the University of Nantes.
'On the one hand, France would be happy to have a US leadership which is closer to European politics. But on the other, it would make it harder to say no to US demands.'
Senator Kerry has voiced hopes that, should he win, France and Germany would send military reinforcements to Iraq. Yet both countries have repeatedly said they do not intend to send troops, whatever the outcome of the election.