Paul Taylor
Forbes.com/Reuters News Service
October 9, 2003

BRUSSELS, (Reuters): Some European states are casting doubt on the prospects for an Iraq donors’ conference this month unless the United States accepts a resolution giving more say to the United Nations and Iraqis, diplomats said on Thursday.

But the European Commission and Spain insisted the meeting will go ahead as planned on October 23-24 in Madrid even if there is no Security Council accord on Iraq’s political future.

Diplomats said the issue risked re-opening rifts between European countries that supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and are now sharing the military burden of occupation and those who opposed it.

“Without a resolution, only those who already have troops in Iraq will want to put in much money,” one EU diplomat said.

A German government source accompanying Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to Russia told Reuters on Wednesday that Berlin would not mind if the conference were somewhat delayed.

The EU diplomat said “quite a lot of other countries” were considering a delay in response to growing signs that the Bush administration may abandon a resolution rather than yield to calls from Germany, France, Russia and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to give the United Nations and Iraqis a bigger say.

The resolution is aimed at broadening financial and military support as well as signalling that the occupation will eventually end, without giving a specific timetable.

Germany is one of the wealthy European states which opposed the war but to which Washington is looking for a significant donation to post-war reconstruction.

Asked if he wanted the conference put off, Schroeder told a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin: “The Spanish government is the one to take a decision.” Putin stressed that a satisfactory U.N. resolution setting out a path for Iraq’s return to political sovereignty was needed for the donors’ conference to be a success.

“Iraq needs funds, but only on condition that all political matters are settled,” said Putin, another opponent of the war.

Fiasco?

In Madrid, a spokesman for Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said Spain would host the conference as planned. “We don’t have any news (of postponement) and are going ahead as planned.”

With two weeks to go, few countries seem willing to commit themselves to firm figures for aid or debt write-offs despite energetic U.S. lobbying, raising the risk of a fiasco in Madrid.

But Western diplomats say the United States may be reluctant to amend its resolution precisely because it no longer expects much financial assistance at the donors’ gathering, and has just won a key offer of troops from Turkey without a U.N. vote.

The World Bank, United Nations and International Monetary Fund have estimated jointly that $35.6 billion will be needed over the next four years to reactivate the Iraqi economy.

EU foreign ministers are due to discuss preparations for the donors’ conference at a meeting in Brussels next Monday.

Diplomats said Britain and Spain, both of which backed the war and have forces in Iraq, were pressing for an increase in the executive European Commission’s proposal to give 200 million euros ($236 million) in EU funds until the end of 2004.

But other member states oppose giving more, arguing that the EU, the world’s biggest aid donor, was fully stretched with priorities such as Afghanistan, the Palestinians and Liberia, which did not have huge potential oil wealth.

“It’s no secret that some member states also think those who broke Iraq should pay to fix it,” one EU diplomat said.

But France, the most outspoken critic of the war, is keeping a low profile and avoiding any suggestion that it is not backing the reconstruction effort.

Asked whether Paris saw any point in a donors’ conference without a U.N. resolution on Iraq’s future, a foreign ministry spokesman said: “France is not aware of any delay to the Madrid conference. We expect to participate in an open and constructive manner.”

European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin energetically made the case for going ahead with the donors’ meeting even if there were no agreement at the United Nations.

“The conference does not hinge on the resolution,” she said.

“We can’t wait for there to be a perfect peace in Iraq to decide what we’d like to do to help the people of Iraq.”

A minister in Iraq’s U.S.-appointed Governing Council urged donors to press on with the conference.

“This meeting is very important because this will take up very important strategic plans for reconstruction of the country after years of devastation and destruction,” planning minister Mahdi Hafez told reporters in Oslo.

Additional reporting by Mark John in Paris, Daniel Trotta in Madrid, and Natalya Shurmina in Yekaterinburg, Russia.