Germany's Schroeder attacks 'gang of eight' letter

1.30pm

BERLIN - German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has criticised the eight European leaders who signed a declaration last week backing the United States stance on Iraq.

He said France and Germany were right to cooperate in spearheading a common foreign policy for Europe and, in a television interview, denied that Germany's outright opposition to an Iraq war had divided Europe.

He said the declaration, signed by the leaders of EU members Britain, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Denmark and future members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, ran counter to an EU foreign ministers' common position on Iraq agreed just two days earlier, not in substance, but in form.

"It's not as a result of my policy that Europe is divided," Schroeder told ZDF television.

"You know that 15 European foreign ministers, ours among them, decided on a joint European position regarding Iraq which two days later was departed from by seven European states, not in terms of substance, but in terms of form."

Schroeder was referring to the "Gang of Eight" letter.

"That wasn't my action -- it was the action of colleagues who have used their right to free speech, which I cannot criticise, but who of course know that in doing so they countered the position of their foreign ministers, maybe less in substance if you read it closely, but in terms of form.

"This has got to be put right, and it shows we're only at the beginning of a common European foreign policy and France and Germany rightly sense a special responsibility to go down this path that leads to a common European foreign policy."

The "Gang of Eight" declaration undermined an effort by France and Germany to form an anti-war axis as the United States and Britain build up forces in the Gulf in preparation for a military strike on Iraq, accused by Washington of amassing weapons of mass destruction.

Schroeder was speaking as British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's key ally on Iraq, failed on Tuesday to win French backing for an early war at a summit meeting with French President Jacques Chirac.

France, unlike Germany, has not ruled out joining a war or voting in favour of it in a UN Security Council vote. But the two countries agreed last month to coordinate their positions closely.

Political analysts say Schroeder has manoeuvred himself into a dangerous position with his outright opposition to an Iraq war because he cannot go back on that pledge without wrecking his authority in Germany, yet risks isolating Germany in the world if he stands fast.

On Wednesday, up to 10 east European countries are preparing a declaration of support for the US drive to disarm Iraq.

Officials in Romania, Bulgaria and the Baltics said Nato candidate countries were working on the wording of the document. It is to be issued in the United States after US Secretary of State Colin Powell delivers a speech to the UN Security Council laying out Washington's case against Iraq.

Schroeder was re-elected last September partly by promising to keep the country out of a war, a vote-winner in war-weary Germany.

However, his Iraq stance, while still broadly popular in Germany, failed to avert a rout for his Social Democrats in regional elections last Sunday as voters vented their anger at the mass unemployment and tax hikes.

- REUTERS

Herald feature: Iraq