Elsinor, 02/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - European Foreign Affairs Ministers have distanced themselves from US intentions to intervene militarily and unilaterally in Iraq. At their informal meeting at Elsinor on Saturday, they insisted that authority rests with the UN Security Council. The President of the Council, Per Stig Moeller acknowledged that they were still worried about the proliferation of arms of mass destruction. Mr Moeller also re-affirmed that, "the Iraqi regime must allow UN weapons inspectors in immediately in order to determine with certainty, whether there are arms of mass destruction or not". He also added that, "the UN Security Council should decide what should be done if Iraq does not allow UN inspectors resume their work. Per Stig Moeller pointed out that for the time being no-one had proposed joining the war effort and that there was therefore, "no reason" to declare either way on war because it was a "hypothetical" question. Member States have therefore reiterated their support for the diplomatic efforts of UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan. "There is no question of taking any other decision for the moment", declared CFSP High Representative, Javier Solana. President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, pointed out that there were a number of serious questions that had to be asked concerning unilateral military action, which would was not shared or thought out in greater depth. Ministers are expected to re-examine the issue during the General Affairs Council on 30 September.
France and Germany have been the clearest in mounting reservations about temptations for the US taking unilateral action. French Foreign Affairs Minister, Dominique de Villepin, repeated some of the considerations expressed by President Chirac last Thursday, emphasising that, "The Security Council was responsible for examining all the options, including military options, threat could be envisaged". While in Elsinor, the German Head of diplomacy, Joschka Fishcher, stressed that the "greatest danger" would be the impact of military action on stability in the region. He explained that Iraqi threats were still largely unknown. In a statement to the press in Germany, the Minister of Defence, Peter Struck, declared that his country would withdraw its nuclear and chemical safety experts, who had been in Kuwait since the attacks on 11 September, if the USA decided to unilaterally attack Iraq without a UN mandate.
British Minister, Jack Straw, stressed that E15 consensus on the necessity of putting pressure on Baghdad to re-admit UN weapons inspectors would be a priority. "Everyone recognised that if inspectors returned and were able to fully carry out their work, the risks posed by Iraq and the need for military action would diminish". The Head of British diplomacy returned to the idea of setting a "deadline" for the inspectors' return, which was stressed by the British press last week. "It's an idea that we haven't yet discussed but which is a possibility", he explained.
In London, Prime Minister, Tony Blair stated to the press that doing nothing in the face of violations of UN resolutions was not an option and that this was the only decision that had so far been taken. "What we are going to do remains an open question", he added. Creating a parallel with former allied interventions, he pointed out that in Kosovo and Afghanistan they had acted in a way that was calm and measured and with international support that was as large as possible.
Spanish Foreign Affairs Minister, Ana Palacio, took a position that was basically the same as the British by stressing the "danger posed to humanity" by Sadam Hussein. She did, nevertheless, remark that "there is still room for diplomatic pressure within the framework of the United Nations".