By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL France Correspondent
PARIS,
February 27 (IslamOnline.net) – Heads of the French Left-wing
parties urged the French government to go ahead with supporting a
peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis and veto the U.S. draft
resolution on Iraq.
Rightists,
on the contrary, demanded the government not to rule out the use of
force against Iraq.
Addressing
a special session of the Parliament on Iraq held Tuesday, February 23,
Head of the Socialist Party Francois Holland asked the government to
veto the resolution drafted by the U.S., Britain and Spain, which is
widely believed to be, if passed, a war authorization.
France
has to opt for the peaceful solution by giving U.N. arms inspectors
more time to disarm Iraq of alleged weapons of mass destruction.
That’s why we should stand up to any U.S. military option, said
Holland.
For
his part, Head of the Socialist bloc in the parliament, John Marc
Erwelet hailed the French stance on the Iraq crisis.
France
has been adopting a positive stance on the Iraq crisis to date and
must remain steadfast, he said.
We
mustn’t backtrack on our stance, stressed Erwelet, adding that
wielding the French veto power means placing the U.S. in a corner.
Spokesman
for the French Green Party Noel Mamere also asked the government to
snub any military action against Iraq.
Head
of the ruling Union for Majority (UPM) party Alan Gebe said wielding
veto is not on the French agenda, noting that the countries which go
for war on Iraq are not a majority within the Security Council.
He
added that France should not rule out using force if all other options
to disarm Iraq were used up.
French
Premier Jean Pierre Raffarin opened the parliamentary session on Iraq
by asserting that France would stick to its peace efforts to disarm
Iraq by giving U.N. inspectors more time.
