With debate intensifying on Iraq's reconstruction, UN chief Kofi Annan said the EU was united in defending a "multilateral approach" to resolving world crises, as he held talks with leaders on the margins of an EU enlargement ceremony in Athens.
"In the wake of the war in Iraq, we are committed to facing up to our global responsibilities," the EU leaders were to say after 10 members-in-waiting sign their accession treaties later Wednesday, according to a draft declaration obtained by AFP.
"We will support conflict prevention, promote justice, help secure peace and defend global stability," the draft said.
"To this end, the Union will continue to enhance its civilian and military capacities to project stability beyond its borders and further its humanitarian goals," it added.
"The Union pledges its support to the United Nations and its efforts to assure international legitimacy and global responsibility."
EU leaders including British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- the staunchest ally of the United States in the war on Saddam -- have called for the UN to be central to Iraq's reconstruction.
But the United States, after seeing off the Iraqi dictator, has made it clear it is unwilling to cast the reconstruction net too wide after the diplomatic wrangling that characterised the build-up to war.
The draft EU text did not spell out what role, if any, the 15-nation body could take in rebuilding Iraq.
But Annan said there was no doubting the EU's support for the UN, despite its divisions in the run-up to the US-British war.
"What is important is that here the European leaders are strongly behind the UN -- they support the multilateral approach," he told reporters after meeting Swedish Prime Minister Goeran Persson, who said the UN should be put in "the driving seat" of Iraq's reconstruction.
"In this interdependent world international cooperation is the only way to resolve the issues that confront all of us," Annan added.
The UN secretary general also urged the international community to turn its attention back to the Israeli-Palestinian dispute.
"We need to press ahead with the road map to settle this long-lasting conflict once and for all," he said, referring to a proposal by the United States, Russia, the EU and UN to create a Palestinian state by 2005 alongside a secure Israel.
The United States has said it will release the "road map" once a new Palestinian prime minister is installed to dilute the powers of veteran leader Yasser Arafat.
The EU is far more united over its desire to see an early release to the road map than it has been over Iraq.
But the commitment by Blair and other EU leaders to the UN route for Iraq's reconstruction provides ground for greater cooperation going forward, even if the details -- and US opposition -- need to be worked through.
After talks in Germany Tuesday with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Blair said the UN must have a "key role" in rebuilding Iraq.
"The important thing is to agree the principle of that role, then discuss between us, diplomatically, the details of how that role must be fulfilled," he said - Sapa-AFP
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