Iraqi interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi sought to calm anger today over his description of European states that opposed the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein as "spectators".
But several EU leaders said his comment, on a visit to Rome yesterday, was unhelpful ahead of a first meeting at which the 25-nation bloc is due to offer him a modest aid package as it seeks a fresh start after bitter divisions over Iraq.
"What I said is that history is history, past is past. We need to start operations, to start a new chapter and look to the future. We definitely want to forge a positive alliance with Europe," Mr Allawi told reporters after a breakfast meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Brussels.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder called Mr Allawi's comment "a slip of the tongue" and said he would remind the prime minister of Germany's contribution in training Iraqi police and military in the United Arab Emirates and in offering to write off a substantial amount of Iraqi debt.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, one of the European critics of the war, told reporters: "I don't like the expression 'spectator states' at all. I don't understand it, and if I do understand it right, I don't like it at all."
French President Jacques Chirac, the most outspoken opponent of the Iraq invasion, skipped the meeting with Mr Allawi to fly to the United Arab Emirates but insisted it was no snub. "There is no problem naturally with the Iraqi authorities," Mr Chirac told a news conference, adding he had invited Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar to Paris and he had accepted.
France cancelled a planned visit by Mr Yawar in September after two French journalists were taken hostage in Iraq.
However, diplomats said Mr Chirac's early exit was a clear snub and disclosed that France had managed to get a phrase explicitly welcoming Mr Allawi deleted from the draft summit statement.
The EU aid package is relatively small, consisting of €16.5 million in financing for elections due in January, support for developing the justice system and help for a United Nations protection force for the elections.
Support for Mr Allawi was meant to heal deep rifts within the bloc over the Iraq war and signal a new start in co-operation with the United States after President George W. Bush's re-election.