By David Fox

BRUSSELS, Sept 1 (Reuter) - A special U.S. envoy given the task of selling Washington's anti-Cuba legislation to the rest of the world faces stiff resistance when he meets EU officials in Brussels this week. European Union officials said Stuart Eizenstat was unlikely to win any support from a 15-nation bloc already pondering counter-measures. Eizenstat, appointed by U.S. President Bill Clinton last month, is due to meet EU Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan on Tuesday on the first leg of a round-the-world swing aimed at explaining Washington's controversial Helms-Burton Act. He will also meet European Commissioners Manuel Marin and Emma Bonino -- responsible for Latin American affairs and the EU's humanitarian affairs office respectively -- suggesting the bloc's executive is treating his visit very seriously. "We are looking forward to the meeting, to hear what he has to say, but I don't see how anything can change," said one European Union official. The Helms-Burton Act, an amalgamation of decades of anti-

Cuba legislation, was passed in July to a chorus of indignant opposition from many of Washington's strongest allies on the grounds that it is extra-territorial -- that is, it imposes U.S. laws on a second country. Among other things, the act allows American citizens to sue in U.S. courts foreign companies that have benefitted from investments made in property confiscated by Havana since the Cuban revolution of 1959. Although the practical implications of this part have been suspended until next year, the EU -- along with Canada and Mexico -- are concerned that liability is accruing. Much European Commision business comes to a standstill during the August holidays. Officials have nevertheless been working to finalise a response to the act by Wednesday, the next full Commission meeting. The EU has already outlined what form this response is likely to take. In July, foreign ministers gave the commission a mandate to pursue four measures they believed would best counter the laws -- named after its U.S. congressi

onal sponsors Dan Burton and Jesse Helms. These were to forbid EU individuals or companies to comply with any U.S. court action; allow them to counter-sue to recover any damages awarded; prohibit individuals from litigant U.S. companies from travelling to the EU; and compile a "watch list" of American companies or individuals involved in any litigation. The EU has also to decidewhether to escalate a dispute on the matter lodged with the World Trade Organisation. If commissioners approve these measures on Wednesday -- and sources say it will be a formality -- they will go for discussion to an informal EU foreign ministers meeting in Tralee, Ireland, on September 7. Eizenstat -- no stranger to Europe having served as U.S. ambassador to the EU from 1993 to earlier this year -- said last month he would not be drawn into specific targets for his world sweep, rather he hoped to seek "cooperative measures" against the government of Fidel Castro. EU officials, however, have repeatedly said their opposition to nation

s considered undemocratic is already strong. Earlier this year the EU pulled out of a cooperation agreement with Cuba on the grounds that it did not promise enough protection to human rights. "Eizenstat has an impossible task," one EU diplomat said. "The best he can hope for is a statement saying Europe backs the promotion of democracy in Cuba. "It is difficult to see how he can persuade the EU to drop its opposition to Helms-Burton, after all it is Europeans who are in trouble because of this, not Americans."