GERMANY: Leaders from France, Britain and Germany meet in Berlin this morning in the hope of hammering out a compromise on the future of Iraq.
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called on the US and Europe to move forward together to "win the peace in Iraq" yesterday while his spokesman said that a compromise was "attainable" in Berlin today ahead of next week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
"It is true that Germany and the United States disagreed on how best to deal with Saddam Hussein's regime. There is no point in continuing this debate. We should now look toward the future," Mr Schröder wrote in an opinion column in yesterday's New York Times.
This morning's two-hour meeting is the first time the three leaders, who held opposing views during the Iraq war, have met since Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled five months ago. Despite their differing views on the war, the three leaders will be anxious to bridge the differences of opinion over a compromise draft resolution on the handover of power in Iraq.
Washington is anxious to agree a draft resolution that will attract greater financial and military assistance for Iraq. But the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, said in Berlin on Thursday that France's priority was a handover to Iraqis in "months, not years".
President Bush said it was unlikely that a compromise on a draft resolution would be possible before next week's General Assembly meeting.
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has expressed frustration with the French position, calling it "nonsense" that Washington wants to be the occupying power in Baghdad.
Government sources in Berlin said they were hopeful that Mr Blair would leave today's meeting a little closer to the position held by Mr Schröder and Mr Chirac.
Chancellor Schröder will meet President Bush in New York next Wednesday on the sidelines of the UN meeting.
His article in yesterday's New York Times came a day after an interview with the Wall Street Journal, and was what a government spokesman called "another part" of Berlin's strategy to normalise contacts with the US tested to the limit by the Iraq war.
Relations between Washington and Berlin have improved in recent months, with Mr Bush praising Germany's "robust" peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan and the Balkans.
Berlin will be taking a positive, forward-looking approach in the next days, the spokesman said.
"It's about getting a handle on the current situation and not about striking a victor pose and beating your chest in triumph at others' difficulties," said the spokesman, referring to attacks on US soldiers in Iraq.
Apart from an offer this week to train Iraqi policeman in Germany, Mr Schröder will present other limited ways Germany is prepared to contribute to reconstruction in Iraq while still refusing requests to send troops.
"Germany has concentrated its forces in the Balkans and Afghanistan, and that means we cannot participate in any military action in Iraq.
"Moreover, those in the United States who say more troops don't automatically mean more security are right," said Mr Schröder, in an interview published in the Wall Street Journal.
Germany's development minister, Ms Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said that it "goes without saying" Germany was anxious to participate in the humanitarian work in Iraq.
To that end, the German government will attend next month's Iraq donor conference in Madrid, organised by the Spanish government.
However, Mr Gernot Erler, the Social Democratic foreign affairs spokesman, warned that the help Germany can offer at the conference depends on whether a timetable for handing over power to an Iraqi authority is agreed in the next weeks.
"Until now it was the case the Americans had exclusive control of these funds and gave the money exclusively to American firms.
"There is no transparency," Mr Erler said.
Some 52 per cent of Germans are opposed to Mr Schröder's plans to offer further humanitarian aid in Iraq when he meets Mr Bush next week, according to a new survey yesterday.