EU: The United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has warned European Union leaders against allowing the crisis over Iraq to damage their relationship with the United States, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels.
Addressing the leaders at the start of an emergency summit in Brussels last night, Mr Annan expressed concerns about tensions that had emerged between nations and within the transatlantic relationship. "We live in a difficult world and we can't afford to have such tensions," he said.
Mr Annan said that the international community should concentrate on putting pressure on Iraq to disarm itself of weapons of mass destruction. "It is important that we focus on that task and avoid the tendency to turn on each other."
The Secretary General said that war was not inevitable and warned that any action taken against the wishes of the UN Security Council would lack authority. But he warned Iraq that, if it failed to disarm, the UN could be faced with a "grim choice".
"I urge the Iraqi leadership to choose compliance over conflict," he said. Asked about the work of UN weapons inspectors in Iraq, Mr Annan said that, although some progress had been made, much remained to be done. He declined to say for how long the inspectors should remain in Iraq.
"There is no fixed deadline in the resolution but at some stage, the council could decide that we are wasting their time. For the moment, they will continue until it is decided otherwise," he said.
The President of the European Parliament, Mr Pat Cox, told the EU leaders that the European Parliament, like most Europeans, was not convinced that military intervention was justified at present. But he said that, despite anti-war protests, the option of using force t should not be ruled out.
"If they want peace, they want compliance. If they want compliance, they want the full panoply of multilateral instruments to be available," he said.
Mr Cox told the leaders that they must develop a vision that would enable the EU to act more effectively in the face of threats such as that represented by Iraq.
"We the Europeans have to get our act together: it is no use us whingeing when others, in the absence of European action, pick up the burden. Doing nothing in the face of this threat is not a viable option. European citizens are right to expect European leadership," he said.
Mr Cox expressed satisfaction at the resolution on Sunday of NATO's split over preparations for war in Iraq. But he said that divisions within the EU had exposed the gap between aspirations and capacity in European foreign policy.