Germany, Italy Remain Split Over Iraq

Not much trace of the optimism expressed by representatives from the German and Italian administrations ahead of a meeting between Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was in evidence after talks between the two heads of state on Thursday evening.

Instead the gap between Germany and Italy on the issue of Iraq could hardly have been more apparent. "One could hardly expect anything else," Schröder said after the 25th German-Italian summit in Bremen.

"No need for second resolution" - German Chancellor

The Chancellor reasserted his position by rejecting any new Security Council resolution on Iraq at present. "We’re of the opinion that we don’t need any second resolution at the moment," he said.

Schröder repeated that Germany, which has joined forces with France and Russia in favor of a peaceful disarming of Iraq, "would remain with that position."

When asked whether he was aware of a British initiative, which foresaw providing Saddam Hussein with a short-term ultimatum to disarm, the Chancellor replied, "I know of the announcement, but I don’t know the text." Schröder said he couldn’t merely speculate on it, but added that had no objection to the weapons inspectors being given time to complete their work in Iraq.

Italian Premier sticks to hardline stance

Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi stuck to his stated line and described a new resolution as "welcome", but not necessary for a military strike against Iraq.

He said it was understandable that the U.S. and Great Britain were trying to garner a consensus with respect to the second resolution. At the same time, the Italian Premier bemoaned Iraq’s lack of cooperation with weapons inspectors so far. Without full cooperation, "the results of the inspections would remain modest," he said.

Italy has for long supported the hard line adopted by the United States, Great Britain and Spain on the Iraq question. Unlike Germany, which is a temporary member of the Security Council, Italy is not represented on it. The conservative Italian Premier is also against his troops participating in a military strike against Iraq.

But at the end of talks with Schröder, Berlusconi softened his stance by stressing that his country also wanted a peaceful solution to the crisis.

Leaders optimistic ahead of summit

Ahead of the summit, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that the German-Italian summit provided an excellent opportunity to bring together the efforts of the two countries on the Iraq issue. "We’re both close allies of the United States, but we’re also guarantors for European development," Fischer said.

Spokesman for the German government, Bela Anda admitted that the two administrations represented opposing views on the Iraq issue, but said, "it doesn’t change the good cooperation between the two countries." He said he reckoned with a "constructive atmosphere" during consultations between Schröder and Berlusconi.

Even the Italian Ambassador to Germany, Silvio Fagiolo, played down the differences between Rome and Berlin on the Iraq crisis. "In the Iraq question, the gap is not so big as one thinks, " he said in an interview with a German radio station. He said Italian Premier Berlusconi was always convinced that a peaceful solution is the best way.

Protests against Berlusconi in Bremen

About a 1000 people participated in a demonstration in Bremen against Berlusconi's visit on Thursday evening. Activists protested against a looming war against Iraq as well as against Berlusconi's controversial judicial reform in Italy, from which the prime minister himself is believed to profit the most. The demonstrations in Bremen however passed without incident.

The 25th German-Italian summit was initially supposed to last two days, but was cut down to one on account of German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer’s trip to New York to the U.N. Security Council, where Chief Weapons Inspector, Hans Blix is expected to present his new report on Friday.

Other than the central topic of Iraq, Berlusconi and Schröder were to discuss a host of other European issues such as the work of the EU Convention, Italy’s upcoming Presidency of the EU in July and the controversial European satellite project, Galileo.