France opposes proposal for US-British rule in Iraq
( 2003-03-22 14:31 ) (7 )

The battle within Europe prompted by the war in Iraq raged on today as President Jacques Chirac of France vowed to oppose a British idea for a Security Council resolution that would give the United States and Britain the right to govern Iraq.

On the second and final day of a meeting that brought together the 15 leaders of the European Union, Britain continued its verbal attack against France, and Germany announced that it would meet separately with France and Belgium ?the countries most opposed to the war ?to discuss how to strengthen Europe's military capability.

No one could remember a European Union leadership meeting more tense and surreal. The war with Iraq, which has battered European unity, intruded at every turn.

As the leaders proclaimed their commitment to open their energy markets, create jobs, set up a single air-traffic control zone and make Europe the most competitive economy in the world, dozens of television screens mounted throughout the European Union headquarters here carried live news of the war.

The disconnect underscored an important point: while Europe may be able to come together on issues affecting its economy, it is more divided than ever on how to defend itself and project power around the world.

The deepest fissure was between Britain and France, whose leaders seemed to be talking past each other about the postwar administration of Iraq. Rejecting an idea floated by Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain earlier in the day for a resolution to give international authority to an occupation government in Baghdad, Mr. Chirac told a news conference, "This idea of a resolution seems to me to be a way of authorizing military intervention after the fact and so is not from my point of view fitting in the current situation."

Asked in a news conference whether he and his fellow leaders in Europe want a United Nations mandate over Iraq as soon as possible, Mr. Blair replied that a resolution was necessary, not just to address the potential humanitarian crisis in the country but also to authorize what he called "the post-Saddam civil authority" in Iraq.

"I think there is a general agreement about the central involvement of the United Nations," Mr. Blair said. "Now exactly how that process takes place is precisely the issue that we discuss, but there is a common view now, not just amongst the Europeans but also with the United States, that it is important that we have a new United Nations resolution that authorizes that and that governs not merely the humanitarian situation but also the post-Saddam civil authority in Iraq."

With the United Nations' role in postwar Iraq unclear, Security Council diplomats indicated after a meeting today that the oil-for-food program, which for the past few years has been the main source of food for 60 percent of the Iraqi population, should be revived under the temporary authority of Secretary General Kofi Annan. The program was effectively suspended on Monday when United Nations workers were pulled from Iraq.

Experts representing the 15 Council members are to meet Saturday to discuss Mr. Annan's March 19 proposal to reauthorize the program.

On Thursday, the European Union leaders signaled that they would resist an American-led administration for Iraq and in a joint statement called for the United Nations to play a central role.

But Mr. Chirac seemed to think that a Security Council resolution would make the United States and Britain the de facto governors of Iraq. He added, "France would not accept a resolution tending to legitimize the military intervention and giving the Americans and British the power to administer Iraq."

He said the United Nations was the only body that could take responsibility for rebuilding Iraq, underscoring that he is willing to consider some sort of resolution for rebuilding the country but not one that would seem to legitimize the war or give the United States and Britain exceptional powers.

"Whatever the results of the military operation," Mr. Chirac said, Iraq "must be rebuilt, and for that there is just one forum, the United Nations."

Later in Washington, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said the United States was in contact with members of the Security Council "as to what is appropriate" for a postwar Iraqi authority.

"I hope that France will want to be a partner in such an effort, but that remains to be seen," Mr. Powell said.

The leaders in Brussels wrapped up their meeting with a 36-page declaration that pledged to forge creative strategies to combat the global economic slowdown. Still, not all of the insults could be held back.

Britain, which has committed 45,000 troops to the Iraqi campaign, continued to hurl accusations that France sabotaged an effort to win international approval at the United Nations for the war.

The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, refused to back off his verbal assault on France, which drew an angry protest from his French counterpart, Dominique de Villepin. "I stand by the words I have used," Mr. Straw told British reporters. "I don't regret the fact that we have argued."

Asked about the plan by France, Germany and Belgium to hold their own defense meeting, Denis McShane, Britain's senior official on Europe, told French reporters, "The idea of a European defense based on Belgium and without England? I wonder how serious this could be."

(New York Times, US)