http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,898450,00.html
Eastern European countries reacted with fury and dismay yesterday after being summarily ordered by France to hold their tongues on Iraq and toe the Franco-German line of resistance to the US. The former communist countries due to join the EU next year, or hoping to do so soon, endorsed an emergency summit declaration from Brussels on Monday giving Saddam Hussein a "final opportunity" to comply with UN demands. But outrage at remarks by President Jacques Chirac late on Monday, attacking as "infantile" and "reckless" EU candidates' support for the US, echoed across the continent. Poland's prime minister, Leszek Miller, stayed away from yesterday's meeting of the 13 candidate countries in Brussels, angry that he had not been asked to attend the summit proper. But his deputy foreign minister, Adam Rotfeld, said the countries of the region would decide what was good for them in spite of Mr Chirac's rebuke that in supporting Washington the east Europeans had "lost a good opportunity to keep quiet". The European Commission and current member states were appalled. "They have as much right to speak up as Great Britain or France or any other member of the European Union today," said Tony Blair, a champion of eastwards expansion. "They know the value of Europe and America sticking together." Chris Patten, the EU's external relations commissioner, said union members were entitled to their own views. Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, was mortified by the hint that French voters might block the new members' accession in a future referendum. "The enlargement of the EU is an historic duty and a promise made by all the member states," a spokesman said. "We trust the treaty will be ratified and enter into force as planned." A senior Czech official complained that the eight eastern countries joining the EU next year had been under intolerable pressure from Brussels and Berlin and were being bullied into toeing the Franco-German line on Iraq. "We've spent the past 10 years trying to get into both the EU and Nato. It's vital for us to keep in both the EU and Nato. But the Americans are pressing us to make a choice one way and the Germans the other. "Not so long ago we were being told Berlin wanted a European Germany. Now it seems [the EU] is to be a German Europe." The Poles, Czechs, and Hungarians joined Mr Blair and four others in signing the "gang of eight" letter in support of President Bush, while another 10 countries in eastern Europe and the Balkans issued a declaration backing the Americans. The east Europeans respond that Germany's anti-war line, initially an electoral tactic by Chancellor Gerhard Schr�der, was not squared with EU allies. "All of central Europe is in an impossible position, between a rock and a hard place," said Jiri Pehe, a Czech analyst and foreign policy aide to former president Vaclav Havel. "No matter what we do, we will be seen as disloyal to France and Germany, or to the US." Mr Chirac singled out Bulgaria and Romania for criticism, warning that support for the US was jeopardising their chances of being admitted to the EU. Ion Iliescu, president of Romania, hoping to join in 2007, called Mr Chirac's comments "totally unjustified, unwise and undemocratic". Mr Chirac's fury was widely seen as betraying France's deep anxiety at the way the club it helped to found will change beyond recognition when it takes in 10 new members next May - as well as mounting anger at the distinction made by Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, who dismissed France and Germany as "old Europe" compared to the friendlier "new" easterners. Starting in Slovenia next month, the incoming EU states are to hold referendums on EU membership. Gary Titley, leader of Britain's Labour MEPs, condemned Mr Chirac's "bully-boy tactics". xponent Division Multiplier Maru rob ________________________________ You are a fluke of the universe. You have no right to be here. And whether you can hear it or not, the universe is laughing behind your back. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
