Brussels, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - EU Council President Georges Papandreou will be in New York on Wednesday for the Security Council meeting when Secretary of State Colin Powell plans to present evidence gathered by US secret services on the weapons of mass destruction that Iraq is said to possess, and on the links that the Iraqi regime is said to have with terrorist groups. After a meeting with the President of the European Council, Costas Simitis, the Greek Foreign Minister, it is reported by the Greek press agency ANA, did not rule out the possibility of an extraordinary summit of the EU on Iraq. "If it is necessary for us to send a strong message to Iraq to abide by the UN decisions or for us to prepare for a military clash, then a summit will be held. On the other hand, if there is smooth development, such an issue will not be raised". (The government spokesman, Christos Protopapas, pointed out that the Greek Presidency will specify its intentions after the meeting of the Security Council). Mr Papandreou also said that the Presidency will "explore" the possibility of holding a special meeting of the fifteen Foreign Ministers with their counterparts from the thirteen accession candidate countries.
Georges Papandreou began his Middle East tour on Sunday in Damascus, where he affirmed that "it was not true" that war is unavoidable but that a peaceful solution to the crisis depends on Baghdad's full compliance with the UN resolutions. Mr Papandreou, who is accompanied on his trip by the EU Special Representative for the Middle Eaqst, Miguel Angel Moratinos, said during a press conference with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk el-Chareh that there is still room for a "peaceful solution" to the crisis. Their message to Saddam Hussein is that he must apply Resolution 1441, he repeated. The European Union is willing to cooperate with Israel and the other countries of the region in order to find a political solution, the Council President said, announcing that he would soon be going to Israel and to Palestine with Javier Solana, High Representative for CFSP. His Syrian counterpart predicted that any war would entail "more violence, more terrorism, more anarchy, less prosperity than division, more bloodshed". He stressed that the evidence the US plans to put forward to the Security Council must be backed up by "tangible documents", and should not replace the work of the UN weapons inspectors.
Several EU Heads of Government are to continue meetings this week with their counterparts (see below on the subject of the Franco-British summit). Thus, in Rome on Tuesday, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Durao Barroso, one of the five signatories (from among the Fifteen) of the declaration of solidarity with Washington against Iraq, met Silvio Berlusconi, one of the other signatories with Tony Blair, José Maria Aznar and Anders Fogh Rasmussen. Mr Durao Barroso will be received on Wednesday in Austria by Chancellor Schüssel, and will be meeting the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, during the week.
In the meantime, the 33 members of the GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA, PES and EDD Groups who have been in Baghdad since Sunday (see EUROPE of 1 February, p.3) had talks with the Iraqi Assembly on Monday morning and with representatives of Médecins sans frontières. According to a press release, their programme comprises several meetings with representatives of international organisations and non-governmental organisations, with the representatives of the World Food Programme, UNICEF, the World Health Organisation, and the High Commissioner for Refugees (MEPs will be informed by the head of the mission on the ground, Daniel Bellamy).