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France 'pragmatic' about U.N. role
LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) -- France said Monday it would be pragmatic about postwar Iraq, setting aside differences with the United States over the role the United Nations would play in reconstructing the country. European foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg discussed how the E.U. could help postwar Iraq and get a central role for the U.N. despite Washington's assertions that it will decide what happens in the oil-rich state after the conflict. "Let us be pragmatic, let us start from the reality of the problems... and one will see that everybody will be able to find its place,'' French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters. "It is obvious that the U.S. administration has a role to play,'' said Villepin, whose country is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council. "It is useless to go back to what divided us.... Let us turn to the future.'' The U.S.-led war in Iraq deeply divided the E.U. with Britain, Spain and Italy supporting Washington while France, Germany and Belgium led the anti-war camp. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer reiterated Berlin's position that the United Nations should play a key reconstruction role. "For us it was always clear that we wanted a central U.N. role. What everybody wants is a strong role for the U.N., but we are not that far (in the discussions).... We will have to wait and see,'' Fischer told reporters. Talks planned with AnnanFrench President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder are expected to hold talks on postwar Iraq with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in Athens later this week, when leaders from Europe and Russia meet. At Monday's meeting, E.U. foreign policy chief Javier Solana and External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten proposed the E.U. could help Iraq with financial aid, developing civil society and cooperating with the U.N. and NATO in providing postwar security. Some ministers and Solana also urged Washington to tone down comments on Syria and instead focus on winning the peace in Iraq and ensuring stability in an already tense Middle East region. Senior U.S. officials have accused Syria of harboring Iraqi officials and chemical weapons, a move analysts said was aimed at pressuring the country to stop aiding anti-Israeli militants. "The region is going through a very difficult process and I think it would be better to make constructive statements to see if we can cool down the situation,'' said Solana, when asked about the tough U.S. rhetoric. Fischer said the United States should focus on Iraq, where civil unrest has replaced the rule of President Saddam Hussein. "We should concentrate on winning the peace and not to get into a new confrontation,'' he told reporters in Luxembourg. The ministers also discussed Swedish proposals to strengthen E.U. efforts to stop countries from producing and keeping weapons of mass destruction, including extending export controls to materials which could be used to produce such weapons. The question of how to treat states that do not cooperate on nonproliferation will be discussed by the foreign ministers in May ahead of an E.U.-U.S. summit later the same month, where the issue is also on the agenda, diplomats said.
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