France said the deadline of June 30, 2004 for the United States to hand over power to an Iraqi government is too late, calling instead for a transitional body to take control by the end of the year.
"My feeling that it is too late," French Foreign Minister Dominique De Villepin told the French Catholic daily La Croix in its Monday edition.
"We have to move faster. We are in a situation of great urgency. We must take on board the concerns and preoccupations of the people in that region," De Villepin said.
The minister said he could see a 15-member transitional Iraqi government in place by the end of December, which would be made up of members of the current US-installed 25-member Iraqi governing council as well as other Iraqi respresentatives.
Meanwhile, Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief was quoted Monday as saying the United States accepts that to avoid humiliating failure in Iraq it needs to bring its forces quickly under international control and speed the handover of power. Decisions along these lines will be made in the "coming days", Solana told The Independent newspaper.
Solana underlined the change of mood in Washington, saying: "Everybody has moved, including the United States, because the United States has a real problem and when you have a real problem you need help." There is a "growing consensus" that the transfer of power has to be accelerated, he said. "How fast can it be done? I would say the faster the better."
He added: "The more the international community is incorporated under the international organisations [the better]. That is the lesson I think everyone is learning. Our American friends are learning that. We will see in the coming days decisions along these lines." (Albawaba.com)
