EU foreign ministers gather in Denmark today for a meeting planned to focus on preparations for EU enlargement.
But talks will be overshadowed by the Middle East conflict and the threat of US aggression against Iraq.
Talks between the ministers, gathering in Elsinore for their first two-day informal meeting after the summer break, are also likely to be dominated dogged by a brewing EU-US row over the international new war crimes court.
But the Middle East is the main item on the agenda, and the Danish EU presidency will present a new three-stage peace plan which envisages the creation of an independent Palestinian state in 2005. It proposes a provisional Palestinian state by 2003.
Danish Foreign Minister Mr Per Stig Moeller plans to travel to three Middle Eastern countries - Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel - early next week, providing the plan receives ministers' backing.
The threat of war against Iraq will also be discussed by the EU ministers, many of whose governments have openly criticised the US’s apparent willingness to act on its own in an attack on Iraq.
Tension with the United States is also being fueled by a row over the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC), which Washington vehemently opposes. Although the threat of Ireland again rejecting Nice Treaty hangs over proceedings, a key concern with regard to enlargement is the cost of farm aid to poor and heavily rural accession states.
AFP