By Matt Spetalnick and Stephen Brown
ROME (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush will askItalian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi on Thursday to take atougher stand on Iran's nuclear programme and respond to U.S.calls for NATO troops to play a bigger role in Afghanistan.
Bush got a cool reception from the Italian public, withabout 2,000 people protesting at his arrival on Wednesday andisolated protests on Thursday, such as a small group chanting"Bush, go home" when he visited Rome's American Academy.
Complaining at the "misinformation and propaganda" aboutthe United States, Bush told Italian entrepreneurs: "The bestdiplomacy for America, particularly among young folks, is towelcome you to our country. We are compassionate, we're an opencountry, we care about people and we're entrepreneurial."
On the third stop of a week-long farewell tour of Europe,Bush can expect a warm welcome from his old ally Berlusconi, afellow conservative back in office this year for a third term.
Bush will look for concrete signs that Berlusconi, whoselast government supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in2003, will align Italian foreign policy closer with Washington.
But his leverage to isolate Tehran and get more troops forAfghanistan is limited in Europe, which is looking increasinglyto who will succeed him after November's U.S. election.
Berlusconi's admiration for Bush runs counter to publicsentiment in Europe where he is widely reviled for the Iraqwar.
Bush's bid to ratchet up pressure on Iran over its nuclearprogramme is expected to be high on the agenda with Berlusconi,as it has been since the start of his European trip on Monday.
He is stressing diplomacy but said after talks with GermanChancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday "all options are on thetable," alluding to military action as a last resort.
The West fears Iran's uranium enrichment activities couldbe used to build a nuclear bomb. Iran says its programme isonly for power generation to meet the needs of its growingeconomy.
ITALY'S HARDER LINE
Italy is one of Iran's top foreign investors and Washingtonhad urged Berlusconi's centre-left predecessor to be tougher onItalian companies doing business in Iran, to little avail.
The new foreign minister, Franco Frattini, signals a harderline, saying sanctions should be revived if Tehran rejects arevised incentives package it will soon be offered.
But Italian papers said Bush may not be able to rewardItaly with a place on the "5 plus 1" group of powers dealingwith Iran -- five permanent U.N. Security Council members plusGermany -- due to German objections to changing the format.
Bush also wants a firmer commitment from Italy to the wareffort in Afghanistan and has pressed NATO allies, with limitedsuccess, to increase troop levels and lift bans on deploymentof forces to places where fighting is fiercest.
Italy has about 2,700 troops in Afghanistan, mostly off thefront lines. The reluctance of Italy, France, Germany and Spainto send troops to the south and east where the Taliban are mostactive has caused tension with the NATO command and Washington.
Berlusconi's government is limited by parliament in thenumber of troops it can deploy but favours making them moreuseful to NATO and Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said onWednesday he agreed to "limited" deployment to combat zones.
While Berlusconi and Pope Benedict prepared to roll out thered carpet for Bush, about 2,000 leftists and anti-waractivists staged a peaceful protest in Rome on his arrival onWednesday.
Bush will visit the Vatican on Friday before travelling onto Paris, London and Northern Ireland.
(Additional reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky)
(Writing by Matt Spetalnick and Stephen Brown; Editing byJon Boyle)
