European divisions over Iraq have exposed the "dilapidated" state of the EU's common foreign policy, according to the president of the Convention on the Future of Europe, Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, writes Denis Staunton, in Brussels
In Brussels at the start of a plenary session of the convention, Mr Giscard said there was no point in discussing the future of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) until the crisis over Iraq was resolved.
"We cannot have the debate on CFSP in public at least until things have clarified a bit because the public just would not understand it," he said.
Mr Giscard blamed the EU's rotating presidency for its lack of coherence in foreign policy and suggested that creating a more permanent structure could help. "You have a treaty that in principle sets down the rules but it doesn't work. We don't have sufficient institutional follow-up because of the rotating presidency," he said.
The convention is discussing a proposal to merge the positions now occupied by the EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, and the External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten. Mr Giscard suggested that such a figure would remain subservient to member-state governments.
Earlier, the European Commission called on EU governments to unite in an effort to limit the damage caused to the United Nations and the EU's foreign policy by a war in Iraq.
The Commission's chief spokesman, Mr Reijo Kemppinen, said the Commission deeply regretted the UN Security Council's inability to reach a consensus and the EU's failure to agree on a common position. "We believe we all must work together to reduce potential long-term damage to the United Nations and to our efforts to build a Common Foreign and Security Policy for the Union," he said.
