Danes struggle to present united front over Bahgdad policy

Date: 03/10/02

By David Cronin

EU FOREIGN ministers sought to present a united front on Iraq this week despite a severe split between member states on how Saddam Hussein's regime should be confronted.

At a carefully choreographed meeting on Monday, Denmark's EU presidency endeavoured to avoid discussions which could leave the division among the Union's countries painfully exposed. It simply invited the three EU member states which currently belong to the UN's Security Council - Britain, France and Ireland - to air their views about Baghdad's non-compliance with its resolutions.

After a brief debate, the ministers agreed to reiterate their call on Saddam to allow international weapons inspectors back into the country and grant them unfettered access to sites they wish to visit. They also urged that every effort should be made to find a solution to the Iraqi situation within the UN Security Council.

The issue of whether the EU would support a military strike on the Gulf state was sidestepped, allowing the Danish presidency to put a positive spin on the meeting's deliberations. 'The consensus we had in August is still the consensus,' said Denmark's Foreign Minister Per-Stig Moller. 'We still say we must act through the Security Council.'

This view was echoed by Javier Solana. The EU's foreign policy chief explained: 'The UN route has to be continued. Europe is not divided on this point.'

Yet Europe was clearly divided on another point - as had been underscored the previous day. Speaking from the English seaside resort of Blackpool, British premier Tony Blair also committed himself to seeking a solution to the Iraqi crisis under the UN's aegis. When pressed by a TV interviewer, though, he failed to rule out the prospect of the UK joining forces with the US in attacking Iraq, if efforts to have the arms inspection team led by Hans Blix returned to Iraq come to nought.

Many foreign ministers used the margins of Monday's meeting to distance themselves from the gung-ho attitude of London and Washington towards Iraq. Sweden's Anna Lindh remarked: 'I can accept that Saddam Hussein is a terrible dictator but it is not the objective of the UN to get rid of him. The objective and the goal is to get rid of the weapons of mass destruction.'

Belgium's Louis Michel warned that sabre-rattling against Baghdad could exacerbate Israeli-Palestinian tensions. 'It is very dangerous not linking the situation in Iraq and the long, unresolved conflict in the Middle East,' he said.

His French counterpart Dominique de Villepin said Paris refused to give the UK and US 'free rein for military action'.

Meanwhile, an opinion poll in Spain - one of the EU states offering the strongest backing for George W. Bush's anti-Saddam front - indicates that José María Aznar's government is out of step with public opinion. According to the daily El Pais, some 90 of Spaniards believe there should be no bombardment of Iraq. More than 80 of respondents said they didn't wish Madrid to send soldiers to the Gulf if war is declared and 72 argued that Spain should not give logistical support to US bombers.

Germany's opposition to US policy over Iraq is widely believed to have been a key factor in the success of the red-green coalition in last month's election. In Ireland the issue of the country's military neutrality is proving one of the main points of debate in the run-up to its second referendum on the Nice Treaty.

A new poll states that 52 of Irish people believe their government should oppose military action if a vote on the question arises in the UN Security Council during its stint there.

EU foreign ministers sought to present a united front on Iraq despite a severe split between Member States on how Saddam Hussein's regime should be confronted, when they debated the issue on 30 September 2002.