FRANCO-GERMAN RELATIONS: The permanent reconciliation and friendship between France and Germany had been "of great importance" for Europe and the world, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said in Dublin last night at a ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty.
"It has helped cement peace and stability on our shared continent: and it makes clear that there is no conflict so bitter, no wounds so deep, that they cannot be healed with vision and generosity," Mr Cowen said.
He added: "As members of the UN Security Council, France and Germany are playing a constructive and principled role in seeking to ensure that, in obliging Iraq to comply with its onerous obligations, the international community exhausts all the means at its disposal before contemplating the use of force."