Grapevine

By PAUL GRAY/

FRENCH CUFFS. The Florida meeting between George Bush and Francois Mitterrand was not as sunny as participants pretended. Behind the scenes, French officials had been scoffing at American hopes of basing Europe's future security on NATO. "You talk about a new NATO mission," said a senior diplomat, "but the U.S. no longer even understands the aim of NATO." However, the cuffs that really irked Bush were from Jacques Attali, | Mitterrand's national security adviser, who in a new book published in France trashes the U.S. as a hopelessly declining power. The best revenge may be . . . revenge. France wants Attali to head the new European Bank for Reconstruction and Development; the U.S. will oppose the appointment.

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS