Brussels, 19/11/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Union "is ready to offer any political and practical assistance it may have, including staff, for the inspection teams of UNSCOM and the IAEA", declared the foreign ministers of the Fifteen on Tuesday, in conclusions in support of the UN disarmament inspection mission in Iraq. The Council "declared unreservedly backing Dr. Blix, UNSCOM, and Mr. El-Baradei, the IAEA, that will lead the inspection missions", and welcomes the "clear message" sent out by the UN as to its determination to eliminate weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. It says it is satisfied that this mission should be in the UN framework "which has foremost responsibility for tackling the problem", and whose role "in peacekeeping and international security must be respected". The Iraqi question was also raised over dinner on Monday.
In an interview published in the Guardian on Tuesday, the European commissioner responsible for external relations, Chris Patten, stressed that "the United States should give Hans Blix and his team a chance to verify if Saddam Hussein will co-operate". However, he added, "if Saddam does not conform (to the UN resolution), then the EU will be obliged to support the US in what it does next". At the same time, Patten said that his recent visit to the United States confirmed that "American attitudes to international co-operation have not really changed", and that "there is not a massive embrace of unilateralism".