Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi sought to calm European anger yesterday over his description of states that opposed the US-led war to oust former president Saddam Hussein as "spectators."
But several EU leaders said his comment, on a visit to Rome on Thursday, were unhelpful ahead of a first meeting at which the 25-nation bloc is due to offer him a modest aid package as it seeks a fresh start after bitter divisions over Iraq.
"What I said is that history is history, past is past. We need to start operations, to start a new chapter and look to the future. We definitely want to forge a positive alliance with Europe," Allawi told reporters after a breakfast meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Brussels.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the European critics of the war, told reporters: "I don't like the expression `spectator states' at all. I don't understand it, and if I do understand it right, I don't like it at all."
Meanwhile, Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, denied that French President Jacques Chirac was boycotting the lunch because of bad relations with Baghdad.
"That has other reasons," he said when asked about Chirac's planned early departure from an EU summit, missing the Allawi lunch to fly to the United Arab Emirates to express condolences for the death on Tuesday of its founding leader, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan.
France managed to get a phrase explicitly welcoming Allawi deleted from the draft summit statement, diplomats said.
Instead the text said: "The European Council met Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi to discuss the situation in Iraq and reiterated its strong support for the political process in Iraq and the Iraqi interim government."
"I think that what we should do is look towards the future, forget about the past," Bot told reporters on arrival for the second day of the EU summit.
"What is very important is that we give off a signal that we are interested in Iraq, that we are willing to help to [re]construct the country," he said, underlining a newly-agreed EU package of financial and other support.
"It is a very positive package. What is important now is that we start this dialogue and continue it on the highest possible level. I have full confidence that we will have a good meeting today," he added.
The EU aid package is relatively small, consisting of 16.5 million euros (US$21 million) in financing for elections due in January, support for developing the justice system and help for a UN protection force for the elections.
The EU support for Allawi was meant to heal deep rifts within the bloc over the Iraq war and signal a new start in cooperation with the US after President George W. Bush's re-election on Tuesday.
In a draft statement seen by reporters, the EU leaders signalled their will to improve relations with Washington.
"The EU ... looks forward to working very closely with President Bush and his new administration to combine efforts, including in multilateral institutions, to promote the rule of law and create a just, democratic and secure world," the draft statement said.
On Thursday, some EU leaders expressed hope that the second Bush administration would give a fresh start to transatlantic ties and allow for progress in Iraq and across the Middle East.
But Blair rubbed salt in some European leaders' wounds in an interview with The Times published yesterday, saying some people were "in a sort of state of denial" about Bush's victory.
Both Allawi and Blair expressed their determination that the elections in January would go ahead despite persistent violence.
"It's absolutely crucial for the security of our own country that that [elections] happens," Blair told reporters.
"These people that are trying to create circumstances of chaos and instability in Iraq are doing so because of their fear of the democratic process," he said.
In the longer term, the 25-nation EU envisages extending preferential trade terms and preparing a trade and cooperation agreement which would formalize commercial links for the first time once Iraq has a constitution in 2006.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number