10/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - Addressing a press conference on the proposals of the Commission to strengthen EU relations with the United Nations and with China (see other articles), the European Commissioner for external relations, Chris Patten, said that in substance, the return to stability and security in Iraq had been subordinated to the role that the United Nations could have played, as well as to the increasing handing over of competencies and powers to Iraqi leaders.