European Union divisions over Iraq persisted yesterday, with France threatening to veto a post-war United Nations resolution on rebuilding and managing the country, and Britain standing by recent statements blaming Paris for the failure of diplomacy that led to war, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels
EU leaders agreed the UN should play a central role in post-war Iraq but the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, made it clear he would not allow the UN retrospectively to endorse the war.
"France will not accept a resolution that would legitimise the military intervention and give the belligerents, the United States and the United Kingdom, the right to administer Iraq," he said.
Earlier, Britain's Foreign Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, said he did not regret statements in recent days blaming France for the failure of diplomacy at the UN.
"I stand by the words I have used. I don't regret the fact that we have argued, that we disagree with the French position, because we do," he said.
In further evidence of the gap between pro- and anti-war EU countries, Britain rejected an initiative by France, Germany and Belgium aimed at improving European defence co-operation.
Belgium's Prime Minister, Mr Guy Verhofstadt, has invited Mr Chirac and the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schröder, to Brussels next month to discuss ways of integrating their defence forces.
Mr Verhofstadt made it clear that the initiative was open to other member-states and Luxembourg's Prime Minister, Mr Jean-Claude Juncker, signed up immediately.
"This is not a closed shop. I expect others would join. It's the logical consequence of the differences of recent weeks," he said.
But Britain's Minister for Europe, Mr Denis MacShane, poured scorn on the idea, suggesting that it was doomed without British participation.
"I wonder how serious is the idea of basing European defence on Belgium \ without Britain. European defence is a matter of two countries that have military capacities: France and Britain," he said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said that Ireland would not be participating in the initiative.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, insisted that, despite the bitterness of the EU's divisions over Iraq, he remained a committed European.
"I am not less enthusiastic. Where there are the disagreements, the right way to handle them is not turn our back on our other partners but to engage with them," he said.
But Mr Blair said that it was important that, once war in Iraq was over, the EU should reflect deeply on its relationship with the US and have a frank discussion on how the transatlantic relationship should develop.
"Europe should be the friend and partner of America, not its rival. That is an article of faith for me," he said.