EU leaders meet Friday to boost Europe's role in the fight against terrorism, amid signs that European support for US-led strikes on Afghanistan is starting to crack.
Billed as an "informal" gathering, the one-day European Council meeting -- at a former Roman Catholic abbey in this Flemish city -- will also review final preparations for the January 1 launch of euro notes and coins.
It will be the second time in as many months that the EU heads of state and government convene, but the first since US and British warplanes started bombing Afghanistan's Taliban regime and prime terror suspect Osama bin Laden's network on October 7.
"We will continue to demonstrate our complete solidarity with the government and people of the United States," European Commission President Romano Prodi told reporters Thursday.
"We have stressed our support for the military action currently underway, and I would not like there to be any doubt about that," added Prodi, who will be at the summit table.
But in the run-up to Ghent, cracks emerged in what had started off as a rock-solid front of European support for the United States after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
It took EU foreign ministers, meeting Wednesday in Luxembourg, five hours of haggling before they agreed a final statement on Afghanistan and terrorism that the leaders will be referring to on Friday.
Britain, together with France and Germany, which have pledged troops to the US campaign, insisted that a draft text from the Belgian EU presidency was too mild, and insisted that it be beefed up.
What finally emerged expressed "total, unreserved solidarity" for the US riposte, while also putting "the absolute, highest priority" on humanitarian aid to Afghans fleeing their homes and facing a harsh winter.
It also reiterated the importance of a "multilateral and global approach ... under the aegis of the UN ... to ensure the cohesion of the international coalition in the fight against terrorism in all its aspects."
In a clear bid attempt to keep European solidarity intact, the British, French and German leaders are to hold their own pre-summit huddle Friday one hour before the European Council opens.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder felt they "needed to meet at the highest level to discuss current international events," said Chirac's spokeswoman Catherine Colonna.
EU summits, which chart the future policy directions of the 15-nation European Union, usually take place four times a year -- in March, June, October and December.
But an emergency summit was hastily organized in Brussels 10 days after the attacks in the United States, with the European leaders flagging their full support for a "targeted" US riposte.
That summit also gave fresh impetus to EU efforts to combat terrorism on a variety of fronts -- from an EU-wide arrest warrant and common definition of terrorism to a crackdown on money-laundering.
In his letter of invitation to fellow leaders this week, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said "the situation in Afghanistan and the role of the European Union and the United Nations" would be discussed over dinner.
"We could also engage in a discussion on the fight against terrorism and the implementation of our plan of action" agreed at the September 21 summit, the prime minister said.
Friday's discussions will kick off by focusing on the introduction of the euro, with European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg presenting a report on last-minute preparations for the currency changeover.
Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders, who chairs the 12-nation euro group, and EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes will also brief.
Friday will be the 74th day before consumers and merchants in the euro zone give up their marks, francs, lire and other national currencies forever.
Later Friday afternoon, the summit will review progress towards a new round of complex negotiations on reforming the European Union once it starts adding new member states in eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.
Minimal reforms were agreed at the Nice summit in December 2000, but Verhofstadt is hoping that a more far-reaching declaration will come out of the next EU summit in the Brussels royal suburb of Laeken.
Verhofstadt said he would be raising "the philosophy, the grand themes of reflection and the structure" of the Laeken declaration, which he hopes will be the crowning touch of the Belgian EU presidency.
The state of accession negotiations with 12 candidate countries -- including the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Baltic states -- will be reviewed at the end of the working dinner -- Belgium, (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
