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Analysis: Eight European Nations Write Joint Letter In Support Of The American Position On Iraq
All Things Considered: January 29, 2003
 European Solidarity Leader
MICHELE NORRIS, host:
Former South African President Nelson Mandela today delivered some of the most pointed criticism yet of President Bush and his posture toward Iraq. Mandela called President Bush arrogant and shortsighted, and called on world leaders and the American people to oppose him.
Former President NELSON MANDELA (South Africa): What I'm condemning is that one power with a president who has no foresight or cannot not think properly is now wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust.
NORRIS: Nelson Mandela speaking today in South Africa.
On the other hand, eight European leaders today signed a letter of support for the US. The joint letter appeared on today's Op-Ed page of The Wall Street Journal, signed by the leaders of Britain, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The eight did not consult their partners, further undermining European Union efforts to draft a single foreign policy. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports from Rome.
SYLVIA POGGIOLI reporting:
The Wall Street Journal headline was: Letter From The New Europe, a reference to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recent dismissal of France and Germany as Old Europe, out of sync with the rest of the expanding European Union and NATO. The eight signatories wrote that the trans-Atlantic relationship must not become a casualty of Iraq's persistent attempts to threaten world security. They thanked the United States for its bravery, generosity and farsightedness, and they urged the United Nations to maintain its credibility by ensuring full compliance with its resolutions. The Wall Street Journal said the Op-Ed article is a sign of further shifting of the global political calculus toward support for the war, but many European analysts point out that the signatories are out of sync with European public opinion. Italian commentator and former diplomat Sergio Romano says opposition to the war is widespread in Europe.
Mr. SERGIO ROMANO (Italian Commentator): The percentage of people hostile to the war is more or less the same in every society of countries belonging to the European Union. The problem are the governments of the--every government has a different policy based on its own interests, convenience, political traditions.
POGGIOLI: In what was seen as a countergesture, the European parliament adopted a non-binding resolution saying breaches of UN Security Council Resolution 1441 do not justify military action. And the European parliament's foreign affairs chairman, German Christian Democrat Elmar Brok, said The Wall Street Journal letter has undermined any chance of Europe's voice being heard. He said, `The race of the vassals has begun.'
In contrast, Alexandr Vondra, deputy foreign minister of the Czech Republic, one of the signatories, expressed the fear of small countries of being overshadowed by big EU members. He said that in order to be heard, it's important for his country that a strong trans-Atlantic bond be ensured.
Mr. ALEXANDR VONDRA (Deputy Foreign Minister, Czech Republic): Well, look, I remember that 10 or 12 years ago when it was the great time of German unity. We can hear that, you know, what is the goal is Europe in Germany, not the German Europe, so I hope that this is still valid.
POGGIOLI: Off the record, European officials admit that a split within Europe and within the trans-Atlantic alliance already exists; however, the Iraqi issue will be resolved. Italian commentator Sergio Romano.
Mr. ROMANO: What is really at stake in this particular issue is not so much the war as the relations with the United States. In other words, that there are countries that are prepared to have a fight, or look like they're prepared to have a fight now, and there are countries who feel that it is their interest to be with the United States. So the split is really on the relations with America.
POGGIOLI: While the European countries squabble, it's the Vatican which is most closely in tune with European public opinion. Pope John Paul II has repeatedly voiced his opposition to war with Iraq.
In an interview today, Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano voiced the Holy See's opposition to any form of preventive war, and expressed the hope that what he called the `old continent' could finally forge a common position in foreign policy. Sylvia Poggioli, NPR News, Rome.
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