European trio hang tough at crisis-torn Nato

11.45am

BRUSSELS - France, Germany and Belgium have shot down a compromise aimed at breaking Nato's deadlock over plans to protect Turkey in case of a US-led war on Iraq, plunging the alliance deeper into crisis.

The European trio, fierce critics of any rush to military action, today refused to budge at least until after chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix reports to the Security Council on Friday.

In a bid to calm one of the most serious storms in Nato's 54-year history, Nato Secretary-General George Robertson presented a slimmed-down "decision sheet".

This stripped off plans to protect US forces in Europe and replace Balkan peacekeepers sent to fight in Iraq and left just three core proposals to start planning for Turkey's protection.

The proposal was handed to ambassadors of the 19-nation alliance after a night of intense telephone diplomacy between capitals. But when they met again on Wednesday evening -- for the fifth time in three days -- there had been no progress.

"The countries which were not in a position to go along with the new proposal this morning are not...in a position to do so tonight," Nato spokesman Yves Brodeur told a news conference.

He said the envoys would probably hold another meeting on Thursday morning to try to find a way out of the impasse, but noted that for the dissenters the problem was one of timing and not substance.

"The issue here is not whether, it is when. That hasn't changed, it is still a timing issue," Brodeur said.

In Paris, a Foreign Ministry spokesman flagged France's disdain for the compromise plan even before the envoys met.

"In this regard, we cannot, through a Nato decision, give our support in principle to a military intervention in Iraq and thus pre-empt the decisions of the Security Council," he said.

France, Germany and Belgium explained again to their allies why they had formally vetoed proposals to start planning for the deployment of Patriot air defence missiles, early warning planes and special anti-chemical and germ warfare teams to Turkey.

They argue that starting defence planning now would lock Nato into a "logic of war", implicitly accepting that an armed conflict against Iraq is inevitable.

Turkey, which shares a frontier with Iraq and is a likely launchpad for any US attack, is anxious for Nato to start planning for its defence without delay.

When the trio formally objected to the plan on Monday, Ankara invoked Article IV of Nato's founding treaty under which allies seek consultations if they fear they are under threat.

Officials said Robertson cancelled a trip to Spain scheduled for Thursday to handle the crisis at alliance headquarters in Brussels. In an ironic twist, he had been due to deliver a speech in Madrid on "Nato and the challenges of the future".

The United States appeared to concede that there was no end in sight to a faceoff which has fuelled tension with countries whose arguments against war prompted US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month to brand them "old Europe".

"It may take some time for us to get to the end of the discussion, that wouldn't be surprising," US ambassador to Nato Nicholas Burns told reporters.

Nato officials said dissenters would probably spin out negotiations until after Blix reports to the Security Council on his inspectors' search for any banned weapons in Iraq, hoping that signs of improved cooperation from Baghdad could vindicate their anti-war stance.

"People are starting to realise that there will be no solution before Friday and that perhaps it is not good for Nato to continue like this," said a diplomat for one of the three.

The United States accuses the three countries of importing political arguments made at the UN Security Council against military action into Nato, an organisation which has a duty to make contingency plans for the defence of one of its members.

Rumsfeld, who earlier this week branded the three countries' move a "disgrace", took a softer tone at a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday. "Throughout the entire life of any alliance, or any relationship, there are bumps along the way," he said.

Washington says the protection measures for Turkey will be put in place by individual allies if Nato cannot agree to it.

It would take 30 days to ship Patriot batteries and missiles from Europe and set them up in Turkey, and there is wide speculation that a military strike could start sooner than that.

The Iraq crisis has split the European Union too, pitting pro-American countries led by Britain, Spain and Italy against critics of a perceived rush to war, led by France and Germany.

European Commission President Romano Prodi lamented the divisions in a speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, saying a disunited Europe would forfeit any global influence.

"Without a common approach, all the member states will disappear from the world stage," he said.

Herald feature: Iraq