EU leaders move to placate America

EUROPEAN Union leaders vowed yesterday to put differences over the Iraq war behind them and said they were willing to work together and with the United States to rebuild the war-battered Arab country.

Meeting in Athens to sign a treaty opening their bloc to 10 new members, leaders of the 15 EU states also worked on a surprise statement on how the United Nations and the EU could work in Iraq in a way acceptable to Washington.

Britain, Washington’s ally in the Iraq campaign, and France, which bitterly opposed military action, sought to put aside their pre-war tensions.