By CATHERINE FIELD
PARIS - The European Union, in its first summit since the military campaign in Afghanistan began, has had to paper over a few stress cracks as the war has escalated, entering the phase of ground operations.
The summit in the ancient city of Ghent, western Belgium, on Saturday
was marked by mutterings of discontent by the four neutral EU countries - Austria, Finland, Ireland and Sweden - at the union's aggressive support for the United States-led offensive.
And the EU's smaller countries and Italy were angered by an unprecedented pre-summit private huddle by the three biggest powers, Britain, France and Germany.
The final statement declared the EU's "staunchest" support for the US strikes and declared the "elimination" of Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network a legitimate aim. But, at the neutrals' behest, diplomats said, the leaders deleted a phrase in a draft of the communique that described the ouster of the Taleban, who have been sheltering al Qaeda, as a "legitimate objective."
In another nod to the neutral four, the statement put a fresh accent on supporting Afghan refugees and Afghanistan's neighbours in Central Asia, promising them "all the humanitarian aid necessary" in liaison with the United Nations and the Red Cross.
There would also be help to reconstruct the country after the emergence of a "stable, legitimate government that is representative of the whole of the Afghan population." EU foreign policy and security chief Javier Solana was to deliver that message in Rome to Afghanistan's former king Zaher Shah, a possible figure to a post-Taleban broad-based government.
Last week, in an attempt to placate the neutrals, EU Foreign Ministers underscored the "primacy" of the UN - and not the US - in forging this reconstruction and called on Solana to work "in close coordination with the Secretary-General of the UN," Kofi Annan.
Just before the summit, the leaders of Britain, France and Germany - the biggest EU member states, and the only European nations to be invited by US President George W. Bush so far to play a direct military role - met to coordinate Afghan strategy.
All three are taking a more hawkish line than their EU partners, declaring the crushing of the Taleban to be essential.
"It was very firmly stated indeed that the Taleban stands in the way of our objectives," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said of his three-way talks with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
So far the only European role in the attacks in Afghanistan has involved British submarines firing cruise missiles. But other British forces are waiting in the wings, as are French and German units.
Smaller countries, led by Spain, were angry that they and Solana had been excluded. The move revived old suspicions that, even though the EU has set the goal of forging a single foreign policy, the big countries want to have a two-class decision-making process, in which an inner circle of great powers would call the shots.
Italian newspapers described the trilateral meeting as a slap in the face to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was not invited to take part.
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By CATHERINE FIELD
PARIS - The European Union, in its first summit since the military campaign in Afghanistan began, has had to paper over a few stress cracks as the war has escalated, entering the phase of ground operations.
The summit in the ancient city of Ghent, western Belgium, on Saturday
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