Madrid - Spain was Monday seen as having overcome its five- year freeze in relations with the United States after Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and US President Barack Obama had a warm first bilateral encounter.

Obama called Zapatero his "friend" and relations with Spain "solid" following a summit between the European Union and the US in Prague on Sunday.

The relations between Madrid and Washington cooled when Zapatero recalled Spanish troops from Iraq immediately after his election victory in 2004.

Zapatero's socialist government also made other moves disliked by Washington, such as attempting to sell aircraft and patrol boats to Venezuela, and adopting what the US perceived as a soft policy on Cuba.

Obama's predecessor George W Bush did not accept to meet Zapatero bilaterally, and it had been feared that Spain's recent decision to withdraw its troops from Kosovo would damage relations with the Obama administration as well.

Yet the meeting between Zapatero and Obama was cordial, reports stressed.

"A new era" had dawned for relations between Spain and the United States, said Zapatero, who reportedly offered the US president help in pushing for more democracy in Cuba.

However, Obama declined to fix a date for an eventual visit to Spain, explaining he was a "prisoner of his agenda." (dpa)