European Union foreign ministers have welcomed the strong turnout in Sunday's election in Iraq, promising to help the country to get itself on to a secure democratic footing.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Dermot Ahern, praised Iraqi voters for having braved threats from insurgents against those who participated in the election. "We welcome what has happened, the extremely courageous choice of ordinary Iraqi people to come out and vote," he said.
The EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, congratulated Iraqis for their "courage and determination" in taking part in the election.
"The elections represent an important step forward for Iraq. Despite the many difficulties that lie ahead, the elections mark progress towards a transition to a democratic, free and peaceful Iraq," Mr Solana said.
The ministers discussed Iraq during their regular monthly meeting in Brussels yesterday, along with the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, the Middle East peace process and the EU's budget for 2007-2013.
The European Commissioner responsible for Enlargement, Mr Olli Rehn, told the ministers that the EU should postpone membership talks with Croatia, which are due to begin next month, if Zagreb does not arrest Mr Ante Gotovina, a former general who has been accused of war crimes.
Mr Rehn said that Croatia was not co-operating with the United Nations war crimes tribunal, which wants Mr Gotovina to be handed over for trial in The Hague.
"If the commission were to give its recommendation on the basis of today's information, I could not recommend opening negotiations with Croatia. I trust that the Croatian government will take this message seriously. If there is no progress on the Croatian side, we are prepared to postpone accession talks," Mr Rehn said.
Mr Simon Coveney, Fine Gael MEP, yesterday called on Belarus to allow the development of an adoption policy with EU countries and to facilitate a visa system to allow the continuation of holiday programmes for children who were affected by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Presenting the first draft of the European Parliament's annual report on human rights, Mr Coveney said that Belarus should take neighbouring Ukraine as an example in granting civil and political rights to all its citizens.