France, Britain fail to resolve differences over Iraq

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, February 06, 2003

France, Britain fail to resolve differences over Iraq

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The leaders of France and Britain failed to close the gap between them over Iraq at a summit meeting in Le Touquet on Tuesday, though both sides agreed to boost military cooperation against a backdrop of strained relations.

CHIRAC, BLAIR HAD "DIFFERENT APPROACHES" OVER IRAQ

French President Jacques Chirac, speaking at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair after the meeting, said Blair and he had "different approaches" over Iraq.

"The most important thing is to allow the inspectors to continue their work," Chirac said, reaffirming France's leading role in opposing Washington's single-minded march toward war.

Reiterating that war was the worst of solutions, Chirac even hinted that France might use its veto in the United Nations Security Council to kill a UN resolution authorizing military action against Iraq.

Blair, whose country has aligned itself closely behind the United States in the military build-up around Iraq, recognized that he had failed to change Chirac's stand on Iraq.

In fact, the Paris-London divisions over Iraq had deepened in the past weeks, as France and Germany jointly issued a staunchly anti-war declaration while Britain answered with an open letter with some other European nations urging unity behind Washington.

In order to soothe the growing political tension between them, Blair called Chirac on the eve of the summit, saying that he wouldtry to persuade Washington to give UN inspectors more time.

In return, Chirac tried to play up the warmth of their relationship, describing the summit as a "cordial entente."

If there was any common point reached at Le Touquet, it was that both Chirac and Blair agreed to disarm Iraq and do so throughthe United Nations, and both urged Iraq to cooperate with UN inspectors, observers here noted.

But this understanding is widely shared in the international community. France sticks to it since the very beginning of the crisis, and Britain made no substantial concession at all when adopting it.

Both Blair and Chirac said they would study evidence of Iraq's banned weapons programs to be released Wednesday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell. And Chirac said he would wait until UN inspectors give their next report on Feb. 14.

BOTH SIDES AGREE ON MILITARY COOPERATION

On defense and military issues, Chirac and Blair on Tuesday agreed to boost cooperation inside the European Union (EU), with plans to have at least one aircraft carrier naval group permanently ready for war.

The two nations reaffirmed their commitment to reinforcing the EU crisis management and military capacities.

For this end, they pledged to build a European naval force madeup of one aircraft carrier and other vessels, which will be on a permanent war footing. Blair and Chirac signed a letter of intentcommitting them to eventually realizing this idea.

The idea of "European naval force" was reached at a 1998 summitin the French port of Saint-Malo. France and Britain pledged to develop an EU security and defense policy for crisis management inEurope and elsewhere.

At Le Touquet, Chirac and Blair reaffirmed their Saint Malo commitment to building an EU rapid reaction force of 60,000 men bythe end of 2003 and agreed to push ahead with the EU's first military deployments as peacekeepers in Macedonia and Bosnia.

France and Britain also said they would press for a mutual defense clause to be accepted by the Convention on the Future of Europe, and urged the creation of an EU defense agency.

The two countries agreed to work closely on the construction ofthree new aircraft carriers, two for Britain and one for France.

Last week, Britain decided that its two new carriers will be built by the BAE System in alliance with the French arms group Thales.

At the summit in Le Touquet, Chirac said he was satisfied with the British decision and France will study the project of buildingits new aircraft carrier in cooperation with Britain.

Analysts say the pledged military cooperation between France and Britain need more action before being concretized.

The governments on both sides of the English Channel are aware of the limited perspective of their military cooperation, because deeply in heart, what Britain wants most in Europe is a loose commercial arrangement, and it has steadily given priority to the United States over Europe, analysts say.

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