European Parliament Chairman Censures European Leaders for Backing U.S. Position on Iraq

In Prague on Friday Pat Cox, chairman of the Parliament of Europe, censured the letter of eight leaders of Europe backing the position of the United States on Iraq.

It would make me glad if the key leaders of Europe gave more time to the search for consensus than advance their own diplomatic initiatives, said Cox. On Friday he had a meeting with Vladimir Spindla, Prime Minister of Czechia.

Cox said that the settlement of the Iraq problem must rely on the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council and censured a possible unilateral military action against Iraq.

The leaders of eight European countries put their signatures under a letter published on Thursday by The Times newspaper and some other European publications. The letter was undersigned by the president of Czechia and the prime ministers of Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Hungary, Italy and Denmark. The authors of the open letter back the United States in its planned hostilities against Iraq.