PARIS, 26 May — According to President Chirac’s diplomatic advisers at the Elysee Palace, the days are finished when Socialist Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine could refer to US foreign policy as “simplistic,” indeed openly poke fun at President George W. Bush’s “Axis of Evil.”

In a major turnabout, France has decided to profit from Bush’s official visit to Paris today to make it clear that contrary to the French government of Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, France, under Chirac, who has been re-elected to a five-year term, will now stress the maintaining of strong ties between Paris and Washington, with France notably playing an important role in Bush’s anti-terrorism campaign.

Already, Washington had sent an “evaluation” to Paris in late April which expanded Bush’s “Axis of Evil” list of countries from three to seven (it now includes, according to a French Foreign Ministry memo, Iraq, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Cuba and Sudan.)

Chirac’s diplomatic advisers say the French president has decided to “send a strong and clear signal to Washington” according to which France, albeit under a Gaullist head of state, has the firm intention of playing along with the US, because, say the advisers, “we are conscious that there is little we can do in the world against the wishes of the United States, or without their support.”

Therefore, Chirac has decided to send a signal to Washington according to which the subjects of agreement between the two countries will henceforth be accorded more importance than the subjects of discord. So, under a Chirac presidency, France, in the words of the advisers, has chosen to become a loyal ally of the United States, indeed Chirac plans to remind Bush today that France is the United States’ oldest ally, having been the first nation in the world, in 1778, to officially recognize the existence of the newly-born country, then composed of 13 states.

Quite symbolically, tomorrow, Chirac will personally accompany President Bush to Omaha Beach, where he will celebrate the 58th anniversary of the US-led Allied landing in Normandy, which in fact took place on June 6, 1944.

Beforehand, though, the two men have agreed on a three-hour series of discussions at the Elysee Palace, which could very well be extended, says a diplomatic counselor to the French president.

The principal subject of discussion will undoubtedly be the post-Sept. 11 world, and notably France’s place in eradicating international terrorism, something that Chirac feels his country did not do very well with Jospin’s government in power.

Still, Chirac is expected to tell Bush that although France fully intends stepping up its cooperation with Washington in the sphere of anti-terrorism, it would like for the UN to play a more important role in the matter. Not only as a matter of principle, but also for reasons of effectiveness, because in Chirac’s estimation, terrorism can be better contained if the battle could be increasingly coordinated by the UN.

Within this context, the French president plans to offer Washington a higher level of cooperation in the hunt against Taleban and Al-Qaeda terrorists around the world, in Afghanistan and Central Asia, where already a few weeks ago France stepped up considerably its participation in the Allied effort, but also in Europe, and on French soil. France was an important breeding ground for many pro-Taleban fighters presently incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay after they were caught in Afghanistan.

Indeed, the two principal axes of French foreign policy for Chirac’s new five-year presidential term will be a greater involvement in Europe, and warmer relations with the US. With regard to the Middle East, Chirac, say his advisers, has decided to support Bush’s proposed international peace conference, with the French president looking forward to learn the details of the summit.

As for Iraq, it is one of the few areas where Chirac has decided to continue to disagree with Bush.

Chirac will tell Bush what he has already told him on a number of occasions that he too wants the UN’s inspectors to be able to return to their inspection work in Iraq, but as for Washington’s insistence that President Saddam Hussein be overthrown and replaced by somebody more to Bush’s liking, Chirac is expected to let it be known firmly that the idea is not a good one.