Romano Prodi fears 'confrontation' over Iraq at EU summit

European Commission President Romano Prodi said yesterday he feared that next week's European Union summit could turn into a confrontation over Iraq.

Prodi said in a speech at a media reception that if the deeply divided EU did not manage to speak with a single voice, it would disappear from the world stage.

The March 20-21 summit could take place just as a US-led attack on Iraq is getting under way, according to some sources, with Britain fighting alongside the Americans while other EU states led by France and Germany actively oppose war.

"Next week will probably be another confrontation," Prodi said, lamenting the fact that the Iraq crisis would overshadow reforms aimed at making Europe the world's most competitive economy by 2010, the original agenda of the meeting.

"We have a common public voice on war but our governments are divided," he said. "I hope we can unify the voice of our peoples with the voice of our governments. Because otherwise, Europe will disappear from the world map."

Greece, which currently holds the EU presidency, has arranged for the 15 leaders to discuss the Iraq crisis at a dinner next Thursday.

The crisis has badly split the EU, with Britain, Spain and Italy supporting the Washington's tough stance on Iraq while France and Germany oppose war. The rift has left the EU's faltering common foreign and security policy in deep crisis.

The 13 EU candidate countries, many of which have strongly supported the US-British stance, will not be invited to the dinner, though they are scheduled to hold talks with their EU counterparts about economic reform today.

Chief Commission spokesman Jonathan Faull said the EU's executive Commission would try to help the EU leaders find common ground on Iraq.

But he added: "We have no illusions... We are in an extremely difficult international and domestic political situation. We hope very much our leaders will understand the gravity both of the situation itself and the implications for the EU."