BERLIN, 17 September 2003 — The leaders of Germany, France and Britain meet in Berlin on Saturday in a bid to heal rifts in Europe over the Iraq war and reach a common stance analysts say could pressure Washington to compromise over Iraq’s future.
The German government said yesterday Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would host French President Jacques Chirac and British Prime Minister Tony Blair for talks at his office in Berlin at 0930 GMT on Saturday followed by a news conference at 1130 GMT.
“The meeting serves to agree to common positions in foreign policy after there were divergent opinions in the run-up to the Iraq war,” the government said in a statement.
The Iraq war opened up deep divisions in Europe, souring relations between backers of the US-led invasion like Britain, Spain and Poland and vocal opponents led by France and Germany, who thwarted Britain’s bid for a UN mandate for the conflict.
Britain and France are veto-holding permanent members of the UN Security Council while Germany holds a rotating seat.
The split between what US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dubbed “Old Europe” and “New Europe” also made a mockery of attempts to forge a common European Union foreign policy. Analysts said the Berlin talks could restart that drive.
With US forces in Iraq suffering almost daily casualties from guerrilla attacks and costs of the occupation mounting, Washington is seeking a new UN resolution to encourage other countries to contribute more troops and cash.
But France, Germany and Russia — another permanent Security Council member — have all criticized a draft US resolution to that end and demanded a bigger role for the United Nations and a quicker transfer of power to an Iraqi administration.
Talks in Geneva on Iraq’s political future at the weekend failed to narrow differences but Security Council members vowed to continue working this week for agreement on a new resolution.
In London, Blair’s spokesman said of the planned three-way talks: “It will be a chance for fairly wide-ranging discussions on economic matters, international affairs. Obviously, Iraq will be discussed and also other European matters.”
Martin Koopman, an analyst at the German Council on Foreign Relations, welcomed the trilateral summit and said if the three leaders could agree on Iraq’s future, they could force Washington’s hand.
“If Germany, France and Britain really achieve a common position, it would make it very difficult for the United States to oppose such a position in the Security Council,” he said. “In any case, it would mean an extreme upgrading of Europe.”
Koopman said mounting pressure on Blair at home over how he made the case for war with Iraq and a realization of his limited influence in Washington had led him back to European partners.
