Italy Says Six European Countries Reaching Common Position on Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Italy Says Six European Countries Reaching Common Position on Iraq

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday that he and his counterparts from five other key European Union nations have reached a common position on Iraq.

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Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Monday that he and his counterparts from five other key European Union nations have reached a common position on Iraq.

The six countries -- Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy andGreece -- had "come to agreement" on the following four points, Frattini said.

1) A strong message must be sent to Iraq, reiterating that the objective is its total and unconditional disarmament;

2) All UN resolutions must be fully complied with to ensure peaceful disarmament of Iraq;

3) Iraq must provide "full and active" cooperation in applying the resolutions;

4) Weapons inspectors should be given more time to complete their task, should they ask for it.

Frattini was speaking after a meeting in Brussels between the four European members of the UN Security Council -- Britain, France, Germany and Spain -- along with Greece, which currently holds the EU presidency, and Italy, which will take over this summer.

Until now, Britain and Spain have been basically supportive of Washington, while France and Germany have been strongly against armed intervention.

Italy's position is still that war is not inevitable but that Iraq must show it is collaborating with UN arms inspectors. It argues that whatever happens, the United Nations should be centralto key decisions.

Last week, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said his government would seek parliamentary approval for participation in military intervention while campaigning to rally a common Europeanstance.

He denied that Italy had changed its stance on Iraq, stressing that it will wait for a UN resolution on intervention.

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