Could the summit redress Europe’s unprecedented rift?

BRUSSELS, February 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – In a last–ditch attempt to heal the yawning European rift over Iraq and make the E.U. act in unison, leaders of the European Union are set to gather Monday, February 17, at 7 pm (1700 GMT),  in an extraordinary summit called by the European Union's Greek presidency.

Facing massive public opposition to war and deep divisions undermining European and transatlantic unity, the 15-nation E.U. remains fractured by acrimonious rifts on how to handle the Iraqi crisis, and some member states have questioned why Greece has risked exposing their differences by calling the crisis session, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The E.U. nations are profoundly split between a pro-war minority, led by Britain, and a majority led by France and Germany that are anti-war.

Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou sought to play down E.U. discord, saying the body was united "in supporting the United Nations and in exhausting all diplomatic means in trying to find a peaceful solution."

"War is not inevitable, there is a chance for peace, there is a real one if it is understood by Saddam Hussein," Papandreou said after talks with his Iraqi counterpart Naji Sabri on the sidelines of a turbulent meeting of Arab foreign ministers held in Cairo on Sunday, February 16.

For his part, E.U.'s foreign policy envoy Javier Solana said Monday diplomatic efforts to end the Iraq crisis must be exhausted, but added that war might still be "necessary" at some point.

"We have to exhaust all the elements of diplomacy and all the elements of keeping (U.N. weapons) inspectors working," AFP quoted him as saying ahead of the E.U. summit.

“(But) I think that everybody admits that war may be necessary at a given moment but we're not at this point in time for that," Solana added.

It will be the first time that E.U. leaders sit down together since a controversial letter was published at the end of January by the prime ministers of Britain, Spain, Italy and five other European leaders strongly backing the United States' pro-war stance.

The divisions erupted into the open late last month. On January 27, the E.U. Foreign Ministers jointly agreed to call for more inspections by U.N. weapons monitors in Iraq.

Just two days later, Britain, Italy and Spain delivered a slap to France and Germany by joining five other non-E.U. countries in signing an open letter backing Washington's hawkish stance.

Their position put the European nations sharply at odds with Germany and France, whose continued push for a search for a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis infuriated the United States, with the tabloid press there labeling them "weasels". 

Another item on the hastily drafted agenda is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with E.U. leaders likely to reaffirm their backing for a "road map" to peace including the creation of a Palestinian state by 2005 despite U.S. reluctance.

NATO Members, Minus France, End Turkey Crisis  

“The solidarity of the Alliance has prevailed"

After days of tough negotiations, NATO agreed to bolster Turkey's defenses in case of a looming U.S.-led war on Iraq on the eve of an emergency E.U. summit 

Emerging from the meeting, NATO Secretary General George Robertson announced an end to the dispute late Sunday, February 16.

"The solidarity of the Alliance has prevailed," AFP quoted Robertson as saying.

“These decisions do not prejudge any other decisions. This is not a step towards going to war," he added.

With Germany dropping its objections, the agreement was reached at the end of a marathon session of the alliance's 18-member Defense Planning Committee (DPC), on which France does not sit. Paris withdrew from NATO's integrated military command in 1966. 

Belgium relented after demanding guarantees that the measures would be defensive, did not constitute a first step towards war and were consistent with U.N. diplomacy, the British Independent newspaper said.

Alliance members were "able collectively to overcome the impasse that we've faced for the last few days," Robertson told the press conference.

For their parts, Germany, France and Belgium immediately issued a joint declaration stressing that the accord "does not in any way prejudge ongoing efforts" to work within the framework of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 to reach a peaceful solution of the Iraqi crisis.

The U.S. proposals to provide NATO assistance to Turkey - the only NATO member bordering Iraq - involve providing Ankara with Patriot missile systems, AWACS surveillance planes and biological and chemical protection units, AFP added.

France and Germany, together with Belgium, had also been blocking the U.S. request to the NATO, arguing that the alliance should not send a wrong signal while diplomacy is continuing.

In the meantime, former South African leader Nelson Mandela gave U.S. President George W. Bush a tongue-lashing over his belligerent stance towards Iraq. 

"What I'm against is the fact that Bush should say: 'Within weeks I'm going to strike at Iraq'. Who the hell is he? My objection is that two states, led by a president who has no vision, should now want to ignore the United Nations," Mandela said on public SABC television.