Security and economics to dominate EU summit

European Union leaders will try to close ranks behind US-led military action in Afghanistan and speed up their own anti-terrorism…

European Union leaders will try to close ranks behind US-led military action in Afghanistan and speed up their own anti-terrorism drive at a summit in the Belgian city of Ghent today.

The 15 leaders will also assess the economic effects of the September 11th attacks and hear a report on preparations for the rollout of the euro single currency notes and coins in 73 days' time.

European Commission President Mr Romano Prodi said yesterday that the EU had responded swiftly and in unison to the crisis, setting in train some 70 measures ranging from closer police and judicial cooperation to an EU-wide arrest warrant and tougher steps to combat money-laundering.

But first cracks are appearing in the total solidarity which the EU pledged to the US action. Neutral Sweden is agonising over civilian casualties and Italy sounds impatient for an early end to the bombing as anti-war demonstrations spread in Europe.

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Police expect up to 40,000 anti-war and anti-globalisation protesters to march in Ghent during the one-day summit. In what some see as a divisive move towards a directorate within the 15-nation bloc, the leaders of the three big EU powers - Britain, France and Germany - will meet privately before the summit to discuss Afghanistan. A senior German official said they would discuss possible military contributions as well as the fight against terrorism and efforts to revive Middle East peace talks.

"Of course I am disappointed," Commissioner Prodi said of the separate meeting. He also criticised US air-drops of food rations in Afghanistan, saying experience showed such drops rarely reached the intended recipients and were often taken by soldiers.