EU contemplates war in Iraq without new UN mandate

Date: 23/01/03

By Dana Spinant and David Cronin

GREECE risks triggering a major rift among member states after seeking a common EU line on Iraq which would avoid the need for a new UN Security Council resolution explicitly endorsing military action.

EU ambassadors held talks yesterday (22 January) on a common position put forward by the Union presidency. European Voice has learned that the Greeks omitted calling for a second resolution in the event of a 'material breach' of Resolution 1441. This states that Saddam Hussein's regime must provide unrestricted access and full cooperation to the UN arms inspectors.

France, Germany and Belgium have repeatedly asserted that a further UN resolution is necessary to sanction a strike on Iraq. However, the UK and Spain believe the wording of 1441 would permit action without the need for a new UN mandate.

Instead, Greece proposes that a breach of the resolution could be deemed to have taken place merely on the basis of "consultation" with the Security Council. "Consultation does not mean a decision of the Security Council," a diplomat said. "The Greeks would sacrifice the demand for a second resolution just to make sure they can get the British and Spaniards on board."

Another EU diplomat explained: "It's not the Greeks' choice to propose a milder position, this is simply the mood: it emerges from the political context in Europe."

The draft common position will be discussed by EU foreign ministers on Monday - the same day that Hans Blix, the UN's chief weapons inspector, unveils his report at the Security Council in New York.

"At this stage, there is no common line," a diplomat stressed. George Papandreou, the Greek foreign minister, is in constant touch with his counterparts from the four EU countries that have seats on the Security Council - the UK, France, Germany and Spain (the last two do not have a veto).

Meanwhile, Chris Patten, the external relations commissioner, yesterday won applause from MEPs after attacking Tony Blair's refusal to rule out a war not authorised by the UN. Military action against Iraq could not be justified on the same grounds as NATO's 1999 war against Slobodan Milosevic, he said.

"In Kosovo, we were talking about intervention for humanitarian purposes," he said. "That is not - though there would be humanitarian consequences - the primary issue addressed in 1441."

The French and German leaders, Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder, declared yesterday that the Security Council was the only body with legitimacy to approve military action.

"War is not inevitable," Chirac said. "France and Germany, who are successively chairing the Security Council, are coordinating their positions closely to give peace every possible chance."

Greece risks triggering a major rift among Member States after seeking a common EU line on Iraq which would avoid the need for a new UN Security Council resolution explicitly endorsing military action.