GERMANY: France, Germany and Russia upped the stakes in the Iraq crisis last night, rejecting the second draft UN resolution presented yesterday and lodging a counter-proposal of their own calling for further weapons inspections.
The French and German leaders last night discussed what could be the last round of diplomatic poker over dinner in Berlin's aptly-named restaurant, "The Final Appeal".
"We see no reason in this context to change our logic, which is a logic of peace, and to switch to a logic of war," said Mr Chirac, the French president. He said he opposed the second resolution lodged at the UN yesterday because he "did not see any justification for it whatsoever".
Mr Chirac added that his position was shared by a majority of Security Council members.
The counter-proposal, developed by France and Germany, and signed by the two countries as well as Russia, would allow the continuation of weapons inspections without any fixed deadline and presented new ideas for the disarmament of Iraq, "programme by programme". "While suspicions remain, no evidence has been given that Iraq still possesses weapons of mass destruction or capabilities in this field," the proposal states.
The proposal does not have the status of being a formal resolution but rather is a memorandum for discussion intended to counter the US, UK and Spanish resolution.
Only the weapons inspectors could set the time frame for their inspections, the French President said. The joint paper says that weapons inspections have brought results and that inspections should continue "as Iraqi co-operation has improved". The weapons inspectors should brief the Security Council every three weeks.
As well as new methods for weapons inspections, the document says that "the military option should only be a last resort". It calls for "full and effective disarmament" of Iraq to be achieved "peacefully through the inspection regime."
Earlier, a spokesman for Mr Chirac, said the new resolution from the US and the UK was "neither useful nor necessary." Chancellor Schröder said the two leaders had engaged in an "intensive debate" over dinner but remained convinced that "a new resolution is not necessary".
"We are, together with France, of the opinion that we have enough possibilities to support the progress that the inspectors are making within the bounds of [UN resolution] 1441," said Mr Schröder.
The two leaders were joined at the talks by their foreign ministers, Mr Dominique de Villepin and Mr Joschka Fischer. Mr Fischer travels to London today for talks with the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the Foreign Minister, Mr Jack Straw. Talks are expected to centre on the two rival proposals now lodged with the UN Security Council in New York.
The second draft resolution was welcomed by Ms Angela Merkel, the leader of Germany's conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), currently on a visit to Washington.
"The important thing is to put further pressure on Saddam Hussein. The debate of a second resolution would serve this purpose," she said after meeting Mr Dick Cheney, the US vice-president. Ms Merkel also held talks with Mr Donald Rumsfeld, the Defence Secretary and Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Adviser of President Bush.
She has criticised Mr Schröder's stance on Iraq, saying it has alienated its US allies and isolated it on the world stage. Mr Schröder has said Germany will not participate in a war in Iraq, even a war with a UN resolution.
Yesterday's meeting between the French and German leaders took place at the 17th century restaurant, "The Final Appeal", named after the adjacent courthouse.
"You might think they deliberately picked the restaurant Zur Letzen Instanz (The Final Appeal) for their meeting because of the name," said Mr Rainer Sperling, the restaurant owner. "But Mr Chirac has been here on many occasions and he enjoys very much the Berlin leg of pork with sauerkraut, so I don't think the name of our restaurant was a decisive factor."
The full text of the French proposal may be read at The Irish Times website, ireland.com