German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder repeated today that he and French President Jacques Chirac would do all they could to prevent a war in Iraq.
Speaking together in Berlin after US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld dismissed German and French opposition to war as "a problem" and the view of the "old Europe", Mr Schroeder and Mr Chirac said they were working together to avert bloodshed.
"We are both of the opinion, and the French president said that quite clearly yesterday, that one can never accept it when it is said that 'war is unavoidable'," Mr Schroeder said. "War may never be considered unavoidable".
Mr Schroeder, sitting next to Mr Chirac, made the comments to loud applause from hundreds of French and German students in the chancellery to mark the 40th anniversary of a friendship treaty between the former adversaries.
"We are of the opinion that every effort with peaceful means has to be used" to ensure that Iraq complies with UN Security Council Resolution 1441, said Mr Schroeder, who has said Germany would not vote for any Council resolution seeking authority for war on Baghdad.
Germany holds a non-veto seat on the Security Council and chairs the Council in February. France wields a veto as one of five permanent Council members. China, which also has veto power, said today its position on Iraq was close to that of France.
But Mr Rumsfeld, seeking to marginalise the French and German opposition to war, said last night that "vast numbers of other countries in Europe" backed the United States on a possible war in Iraq.
"You're thinking of Europe as Germany and France. I don't. I think that's old Europe," Mr Rumsfeld said in Washington. "If you look at the entire NATO Europe today, the centre of gravity is shifting to the east. And there are a lot of new members".