The president of the European Parliament, Mr Pat today said the problem in the Iraqi crisis was Saddam Hussein and weapons of mass destruction, and not the EU.
"All the states in the Union agree that the problem is not the EU, the problem is Mr Saddam Hussein and his weapons of mass destruction," Mr Cox told a press conference.
"A consensus of all the European states in the Security Council is that they want, having heard Dr Blix, that the Iraqi regime should give active and substantial co-operation and not just active procedural co-operation," Mr Cox said, referring to the UN weapons inspectors in Iraq.
He added that all the EU member states wanted the Iraqi crisis to be resolved through the UN Security Council.
"We want to see this dealt with through the UN Security Council, so we believe in multilateralism, and all the European states share that view," he said.
Earlier today in Brussels, the European parliament warned against unilateral military action against Iraq.
It passed a resolution, backed by 287 deputies with 209 voting against and 26 abstaining, stating that preemptive military strikes against Iraq could be illegal.
The parliament "expresses its opposition to any unilateral military action and believes that a preemptive strike would not be in accordance with international law," the resolution said.
Division within the EU over Iraq was underlined today with an open letter by eight European leaders expressing support for the US in the face-off with Saddam.
AFP