BRUSSELS, Belgium — The leaders of the 15 members of the European Union warned Iraq on Monday that it must disarm “immediately and fully” but said that Europe wants to achieve disarmament peacefully and that war should be envisioned only as a last resort.
The European statement was issued at the end of an emergency summit meeting and after a weekend of huge demonstrations in several cities against war in Iraq. The statement appeared to represent an effort to smooth over trans-Atlantic differences through firm demands on Saddam Hussein while maintaining a distinct European position dedicated to a peaceful resolution.
“War is not inevitable,” the statement read. “Force should only be used as a last resort. It is for the Iraqi regime to end this crisis by complying with the demands of the Security Council.”
“The Union’s objective for Iraq remains full and effective disarmament,” the leaders said. “We want to achieve this peacefully. It is clear that this is what the people of Europe want.”
The European leaders did not approve a timetable for Iraqi disarmament and rejected a British proposal that the statement include the phrase “time is running out.”
That phrase was rejected by Germany, which, together with France, has stood at the forefront of European resistance to the Bush administration’s plans to disarm Iraq through force if necessary.
In a demonstration of the continued distance between Europe and the United States, President Jacques Chirac of France said there was “no need” for a second U.N. resolution reinforcing the threat of force against Iraq, and that France would oppose one if the United States and Britain proposed it to the Security Council.
“Iraq must have no illusions,” the Greek president, Costas Simitis, said Monday night, summarizing the European declaration. “Iraq alone will be responsible for the serious consequences,” he said, if it continues to defy U.N. resolutions.
The phrase “serious consequences” is widely viewed as meaning military force. It appears at the end of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, which last year provided arms inspectors with a strong mandate to return to Iraq and verify disarmament.
Differences between Europe and the United States about Iraq have become so acute in recent weeks that officials have expressed concern about the future of the NATO alliance. On Monday, European leaders tried to allay those fears, saying they were committed to “working with all our partners, especially the United States, for the disarmament of Iraq.”
In its most forceful passage, the European statement read: “Baghdad should have no illusions. It must disarm and cooperate immediately and fully. Iraq has a final opportunity to resolve the crisis peacefully. The Iraqi regime alone will be responsible for the consequences if it continues to flout the will of the international community and does not take this last chance.”
Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain, who faces intense domestic opposition to his support for the Bush administration’s war plans, had insisted before the meeting that European leaders must show a united front with America as the best means of compelling Saddam to disarm.
The meeting Monday was aimed in part at trying to patch up the sharp disagreement among European countries that have left the goal of European unity in tatters. For months now, France and Germany have resisted American pressure to go to war with Iraq, while Britain, Italy, Spain and Denmark support the American position.
That the meeting ended in a joint statement at all was something of a victory for many European leaders who have been eager to heal the rifts caused by the Iraqi crisis and to speak with a single European voice.
Meanwhile, an American U-2 surveillance plane made its first flight over Iraq in support of the U.N. inspections, marking another concession by Iraq to stave off a U.S.-led attack.
The U-2 flight took place only one week after the United Nations and Baghdad broke an impasse that had kept the reconnaissance plane grounded since the start of inspections in November. The Iraqis agreed to allow U-2 flights last week, fulfilling a major demand by U.N. inspectors seeking to determine whether Iraq still harbors weapons of mass destruction.
