Brussels, 12/09/2002 (Agence Europe) - According to a news flash published by the Danish press agency, Rizau, the Acting President of the European Council, Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared that a new UN resolution would perhaps not be necessary for launching an attack against Iraq. The Danish Prime Minister, nevertheless, qualified his statement by stressing that it would be preferable politically, if new action was based on a new resolution. "Saddam Hussein has already broken several UN resolutions and it is obvious that this will have consequences. If resolutions can be ignored without provoking a reaction of one sort or another, that would undermine the authority of the UN." The Danish Minister stressed that a military operation against Iraq must be based on a UN mandate but that existing resolutions could suffice, given that the Iraqi President has refused sine 1998 to grant access to his country for UN weapons inspectors. Mr Rasmussen was speaking at the General Assembly on Thursday on behalf of the EU.