UK after trilateral approach to Syria

IRNA
London, Dec 23, IRNA -- Britain was reported Tuesday to be seeking 
to use the combined weight of the European Union`s "big three" 
countries to put pressure on Syria over weapons of mass destruction, 
terrorism and Iraq. 
The plan is for a joint initiative by Britain, France and 
Germany, according to the Guardian newspaper. 
It said that if the joint approach is agreed, Foreign Secretary 
Jack Straw and his French and German counterparts, Dominique de 
Villepin and Joschka Fischer, would visit Damascus together. 
Straw suggested last week, that the tripartite approach used 
with Iran, which he had dubbed the `EU3`, was a "good illustration" 
of the future operation of achieving a common European foreign 
policy as proposed by the UK. 
According to the Guardian, Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is 
meeting French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor 
Gerhard Schroeder for a special summit in the new year, is also 
increasingly keen on what the UK government calls "trilateralism." 
But Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, the incoming presidency 
holder of the EU, has signalled his opposition to Britain, France 
and Germany trying to take over foreign policy with the 
participation of other member states. 
In an interview with the Financial Times last Thursday, Cowan 
said that High Representative Javier Solana should have been 
included in the Iranian initiative trip to represent other EU 
countries. 
The Guardian reported that the joint plan to put pressure on 
Syria is "designed to show that Europe, galvanized by Britain, has 
the clout to help the US deal peacefully with security issues in 
the Middle East." 
The most obvious goal would be to persuade Syria, facing the 
threat of US sanctions, to sign up to the chemical weapons 
convention, it said. 
HC/213 
End
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Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

UK after trilateral approach to Syria
