European Union split over Iraq as France threatens to block early war

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A European Union summit on trying to end a deep split over Iraq ran into trouble Monday as France insisted that it would try to block any imminent U.S. attack on Baghdad.\nWith the division undermining EU unity and its ability to speak with a single voice, Britain and France offered starkly different views, with London calling for a swift deadline for action and Paris insisting on more time to disarm Iraq peacefully.\nPresident Jacques Chirac said France would oppose any effort to draft a new U.N. resolution authorizing war at this time. France, Germany and others say Iraq can be disarmed peacefully and must be given time.\n"There is no need for a second resolution today, which France would have no choice but to oppose," said Chirac. France has a veto on the U.N. Security Council.\nBritish Prime Minister Tony Blair said time was running out and the EU must set limits on how much longer it will allow Iraq to remain defiant.\n"I think most people understand ... if that (disarming) cannot be done peacefully, it must be done by force," Blair said.\n"That's why we require a timetable," he said.\nGreece, the current EU president, called the summit to avoid a crisis, but diplomats said little progress was made and the meeting might worsen the situation by underscoring differences.\nThe conference was expected to issue a bland statement saying Iraq must do more to assist U.N. weapons inspectors but avoiding reference to war, diplomats said.\n"We will have a statement on which everyone can agree, and that means the lowest common denominator," one diplomat said.\nThe United States says it may seek a second U.N. resolution authorizing force against Iraq but that it is not indispensable. Blair, who faces strong domestic opposition to war, wants a second resolution but also says it is not strictly necessary.\nEuropean parliamentary leaders, who met with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan before he entered the summit, said Annan stressed that he did not want the weapons inspections to go on too long.\nThe split dramatically highlights the EU's inability to forge a foreign and security policy. France and others want the EU to be a major power that can counter the United States, but most European nations are reluctant to give up control of their foreign policy, especially direct ties with Washington.\nFrance, which has long wanted to regain global power by leading a united Europe, has led the opposition to Washington's drive for a war on Iraq. Chirac has claimed that he speaks for the people of Europe, over the heads of some of their own governments, which back Washington.\n"We all know that this is about the matter of Iraq, but it's also about the matter of Europe," German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said.\nItaly spoke for the EU states that don't want to trade their close ties with the United States. "Our policy is based on two pillars: the cohesion of the European Union and a strong relationship with the United States," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said.\nOpponents of war believe their position was strengthened when millions of people marched in cities around the world Saturday to oppose war. But the United States and Britain, the two allies that have committed massive forces to the Persian Gulf, show no sign of backing off.\nThe disunity within Europe was reflected at NATO headquarters, where Belgium, France and Germany had held out for a month against 14 European allies -- as well as the United States and Canada -- over starting defensive measures to protect Turkey in case of an Iraq war. Turkey is the only NATO member that borders Iraq.\nGermany and Belgium dropped their objections for a deal late Sunday, but only after NATO went to its Defense Planning Committee, which does not include France.\nMeanwhile, Turkey's prime minister on Monday ruled out a parliamentary vote to allow in tens of thousands of U.S. combat troops before Turkish and U.S. officials agree on the conditions of the deployment. One of the main sticking points is the economic aid package that would compensate Turkey for any losses incurred in an Iraq war, diplomats said.\nA delay could hamper U.S. war plans to open a northern front in an Iraq war.