  Fitted finite element methods are constructed for a singularly perturbed
convection-diffusion problem in two space dimensions. Exponential splines as
basis functions are combined with Shishkin meshes to obtain a stable
parameter-uniform numerical method. These schemes satisfy a discrete maximum
principle. In the classical case, the numerical approximations converge, in the
maximum pointwise norm, at a rate of second order and the approximations
converge at a rate of first order for all values of the singular perturbation
parameter.
