East hits back at Chirac

French President Jacques Chirac’s biting attack on eastern European countries backing the Anglo-American position on Iraq today threatened to undermine an EU summit seeking broader unity.

Eastern European capitals reacted defiantly to the tirade, reminiscent to some of the former Soviet Union’s overbearing manner.

“The French position shows certain anxiety,” said Bulgarian Deputy Foreign Minister Lyubomir Ivanov.

“It is not the first time that pressure is being exerted upon us in one or another form but in my opinion this is not the productive way to reach unity and consensus in the Security Council.”

While today’s meeting was called for the 13 candidate nations to sign on to the hard-fought declaration by 15 EU leaders warning Baghdad it faced one “last chance” to disarm, the first order of business became salving the wounds caused by Chirac’s harsh attack.

“It is not really responsible behaviour,” Chirac said. “It is not well brought up behaviour. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet.”

He warned the candidates their position could be ”dangerous” because the parliaments of the 15 EU nations still have to ratify last December’s decision for 10 new members to join the bloc on May 1 2004.

However, British Prime Minister Tony Blair defended the rights of the candidate countries to express their views.

“They have as much right to speak up as Great Britain or France or any other member of the European Union today,” Mr Blair said. “They know the value of Europe and America sticking together.”

France has long been the least enthusiastic about the prospect of EU expansion for fear its own leading influence would inevitably diminish.

Chirac was angered when leaders of EU candidates Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic joined the heads of pro-US EU members such as Britain, Spain and Italy in a letter last month supporting Washington’s line on Iraq, against the more dovish stance of France and Germany.

Later, 10 former communist countries, seven of them EU candidates, reiterated their support for Washington’s drive to disarm Iraq.

The two statements revealed a deep divide within Europe over Iraq, one of the factors prompting Greece to call the emergency summit to mend the rift.

Seeking common ground, a declaration by 15 EU leaders last night said UN weapons inspectors “must be given the time and resources that the UN Security Council believes they need.” But it also acknowledged that ”inspections cannot continue indefinitely.”

EU officials remained confident they could win the candidates’ support for a common European position on Iraq despite Chirac’s divisive words. But Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who met with the candidates today, acknowledged the job had become more difficult.

“We must reduce differences between ourselves and central and eastern European countries,” Simitis, whose country holds the EU presidency, said ahead of the summit. He warned it was “not going to happen overnight.”

The meeting was attended by the leaders of Czech Republic, Cyprus, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey.

In Warsaw, Poland’s deputy foreign minister called Chirac’s tirade “harmful and unnecessary.”

“The US presence in Europe and close relations with the United States are in all of Europe’s interest,” Adam Rotfeld said.

He also blasted the notion that the EU was making a ”great gesture” by accepting eastern European countries.

“We believe our entry into European Union is a great chance for us, but also a chance for the European Union,” Rotfeld said. “Poland and other countries have the right to decide what is good for them, and France should respect it.”

Hungarian historian Odon Beothy said Chirac showed the ”unpredictability” of French foreign policy.