LONDON, Feb. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush has set strict limits on efforts of the European Union (EU) to boost its military might, insisting that there was no need to form an alternative superpower, The Daily Telegraph said Saturday.

    In an interview with the paper before his visit to Europe next week, Bush rejected a call by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to overhaul NATO.

    "I disagree. I think NATO is vital. NATO is a very important relationship as far as the United States is concerned. It is one that has worked in the past and will work in the future, so long as there is that strong commitment to NATO," Bush told the paper.

    According to the paper, Bush could not accept the view that theEU should try to counter-balance the power of the United States ashe delivered a rebuff to Schroeder, who reportedly suggested that the NATO was no longer an adequate body for consulting and coordinating the vision of its members.

    Schroeder urged the EU and the United States to set up a panel of independent senior officials to analyze new ways to boost the organization.

    "I look forward to talking to him about exactly what he meant by that," said Bush, who was expected to meet with Schroeder in the western German city of Mainz during his European tour.

    Bush, due to arrive in Brussels on Sunday, also implicitly acknowledged that the time of the unilateralism in his first term was over.

    "My trip to Europe is to seize the moment and invigorate (the) relationship," Bush said. "We compete at times, but we do not compete when it comes to values."

    Bush, who will become the first US president to visit the European Commission, the executive body of the EU, had remarkably warm words for European integration, the paper said.

    "I have always been fascinated to see how the British culture and the French culture and the sovereignty of nations can be integrated into a larger whole in the modern era," the paper quoted Bush as saying. "And progress is being made and I am hopeful it works because one should not fear a strong partner." Enditem