EU: European Union leaders have approved a security strategy designed to make European foreign policy more effective and backed a deal to set up an independent EU military planning unit, writes Denis Staunton in Brussels
At their heads of government summit meeting in Brussels yesterday, the leaders declared their commitment to a strong transatlantic alliance and expressed support for the political and economic reconstruction of Iraq.
They were divided, however, on a US decision to limit bidding for government contracts in Iraq to companies from countries that supported the war. The Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, said the decision was unhelpful to the transatlantic relationship and suggested that it could influence talks on forgiving Iraq's foreign debt.
"It does not help the relationship, most of all on the eve of a meeting that was meant to take a decision on Iraq debt as many of these countries excluded are large creditors," he said.
Sweden's Foreign Minister, Ms Laila Freivalds, said Washington's position was unsustainable and in breach of international trade rules.
"It is completely unacceptable that the United States limits this to certain countries and completely shuts out others from the possibility of competing in a normal way for the contracts," she said.
Germany said it hoped the row over the contracts could be resolved, and Britain's Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, defended the US decision. "It's for the Americans to decide how they spend their money. This is American money," he said.
The dispute over contracts in Iraq overshadowed a declaration on the transatlantic relationship approved by the leaders yesterday. Describing the relationship as irreplaceable, the declaration says the EU and its transatlantic partners should defend a common agenda based on "the promotion of the rule of law, democracy and human rights, poverty reduction, health and environmental protection".
Italy's Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi, said the declaration marked the end of a period of turbulence in EU-US relations. "We think this should draw a line under the chilliness over the Iraq issue," he said.
The security strategy, which was conceived at the height of the Iraq crisis, was drawn up by the EU foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, in conjunction with think tanks and diplomats from the member-states.
It identifies terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts, state failure and organised crime as key threats to European security and suggests that they should be addressed by a combination of military, diplomatic and economic means.
"The EU has a road map to continue to play the role of a strategic partner in the world. This is a very important decision," Mr Solana said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, expressed the Government's support for the security strategy.
"We think it is a holistic concept regarding security that includes much of the analysis and approach that we would adopt ourselves regarding our security policy," he said.
"It's looking not just at military crisis management but civilian crisis management and conflict-prevention strategy, economic and other diplomatic instruments as a means of maintaining peace and security, so we're very happy and we had a good input into the thrust of that policy here at official and political level," Mr Cowen said.
The EU's ability to mount military operations received a boost with an agreement on plans for an independent military planning unit. The agreement, proposed by Germany, France and Britain and adopted by all EU leaders, locates an EU planning cell at Nato's military headquarters, boosts the number of planners on the EU's existing military staff and stations Nato liaison officers at the EU.
The leaders agreed to consider lifting an EU arms embargo on China, which was imposed after the crushing of pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989. France and Germany have long been pressing for the embargo to be lifted, but some member-states warned about moving too fast before China's human rights record improves.
A Commission spokeswoman said human rights remained an important issue in the EU's relationship with China, and Ms Freivalds sought to play down any prospect that the policy would be reversed.
"We think we have to move forward very carefully on this, so a compromise has been made that we will examine the matter and have a discussion on the issue, but in no way at this stage decide on it," she said.