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| Europe |
| EU in Disarray as Eight European Nations Back Iraq War |
| 2003-01-30 |
| A joint letter signed by eight European leaders backing the United States on the crisis with Iraq highlighted the European Union's divisions on Thursday, rubbing salt into the wounds of its stumbling foreign policy. The European Parliament deepened that disarray by declaring that Iraq's response to U.N. weapons inspectors so far did not justify military action and warning against a unilateral U.S.-led war. In an article published in a dozen newspapers, the leaders of EU members Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Denmark, plus future members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, called time on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and appealed for unity. But they failed to consult most EU partners and candidates about the initiative, launched just two days after the bloc's foreign ministers tried to paper over their cracks with a joint statement backing the U.N. arms inspection effort in Iraq. Indeed British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, two of the prime movers, kept the EU's Greek presidency in the dark during telephone calls with Prime Minister Costas Simitis on Wednesday. Asked whether Athens was told, Greek Foreign Ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis said: "No, we were not informed about this move. We were informed...late last night during Mr. Simitis' meeting with his Hungarian counterpart. But there was no previous information or coordination." Simitis had conversations with both Blair and Berlusconi on Wednesday and neither raised the matter, he said. "Simple common courtesy would have dictated early advice," one furious Greek official said. EU officials said neither the bloc's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, nor its external relations commission, Chris Patten, were informed of the letter. "We don't live yet in a perfect world," European Commission spokesman Jonathan Faull commented, adding: "We are all agreed that there is still much to be done to reinforce the mechanisms of our common foreign and security policy, but I will not be drawn into comments on divisions and that sort of thing." One senior official said the initiative had wrecked a week of EU damage control spent trying to build a consensus in favor of the weapons inspections and respect for the primacy of the U.N. Security Council in deciding on war or peace. The chairman of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, said any chance of Europe's voice being heard had been undone. "The race of the vassals has begun," he said in a statement. Parliament adopted 287-209 with 26 abstentions a non-binding resolution saying: "Breaches of U.N. Security Council resolution 1441 currently identified by the inspectors with regard to weapons of mass destruction do not justify military action." EU diplomats said the "Gang of Eight" letter seemed to be an attempt to isolate France and Germany, which have warned Washington against a rush to war, and to strengthen Blair's hand in talks with President Bush this weekend. "The transatlantic relationship must not become a casualty of the current Iraqi regime's persistent attempts to threaten world security," the leaders' open letter said. But the fact that only five of the 15 leaders of the existing EU signed the text, while one -- Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende -- refused, showed how evenly the bloc is divided, at least tactically, on the Iraq crisis. Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Bart Jochems confirmed that Balkenende, a keen Atlanticist, had been approached to sign the text but had declined. "What we are aiming for is one European voice and we are trying to achieve that by bridging gaps and that is why the prime minister did not sign," Jochems told Reuters. Spokesmen for Sweden, Austria, the Baltic states, Slovakia and Slovenia said their leaders had not been contacted. While only Germany has opposed military action under any circumstances, France, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Greece and Finland have all urged giving the U.N. inspectors more time and insist on exploring all avenues for a peaceful solution. In a further example of European cacophony, Denmark's center-left opposition parties accused Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of undermining European unity by signing the text, while Germany's conservative opposition said the letter showed how isolated Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was. "The result of this policy will be an irreversible damage to Germany's position in the community of common values of the West," said Michael Glos, parliamentary leader of the opposition Christian Social Union. Vassals vs Weasels, the new reality series! |
| Posted by:Steve |
| #4 I also saw that Alain Madelin, my favorite French politician (don't laugh! He's a real, committed conservative libertarian in the US mode), spoke in favor of US policy today. The nations asked were basically the center-right governments in Europe. The Dutch and French center-right governments didn't want to go along. The Baltics would have been eager to speak up for us, decent chance from the Slovenians. |
| Posted by: John Thaker 2003-01-30 17:46:58 |
| #3 If they were "vassals", we'd be getting this sort of conversation over the White House - Dowling Street line right about now: "Bring me their heads." "Yes, sire!" |
| Posted by: Tripartite 2003-01-30 14:24:14 |
| #2 "Simitis had conversations with both Blair and Berlusconi on Wednesday and neither raised the matter, he said. "Simple common courtesy would have dictated early advice," one furious Greek official said." Simple common courtesy would mean that Germany and France would have consulted with their partners before they did their little number on the US. Hats off to the Vassels! Fie to the weasels! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-01-30 12:36:28 |
| #1 " EU in Disarray"....you mean, today???? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-01-30 11:59:44 |