Athens: The European Union plans to organise an airlift to allow wounded Iraqis to
get medical treatment in Europe, French President Jacques Chirac said on April 16
after EU leaders held their first talks since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Meeting on the margins of a EU enlargement ceremony in Athens, the heads of
government including British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed that the United
Nations (UN) should be central to the rebuilding of Iraq.
But the extent to which the UN, or the EU itself, will get involved in Iraq's
reconstruction depends on a deeply sceptical United States.
Chirac said the European Commission - the EU's executive arm - would arrange the
airlift "as quickly as possible" in co-operation with "the occupying powers" - the
United States and Britain.
Chirac said he had discussed the idea with Blair who was "favourable to this
initiative".
The airlift will cover Iraqis wounded in the US-British war, especially children,
who "need treatment which can only be found in our countries", the President told
reporters.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder backed the idea, a day after agreeing in talks
with Blair that the UN should play a "key role" in rebuilding Iraq.
"I always said that if it comes to use our resources to, say, fly to Germany
seriously injured children who cannot be treated there, we'll do it," he
said.
"First, humanitarian aid must reach the people - and fast," Schroeder added, while
stressing the UN must be "the roof under which this happens" and that US-British
forces must assure law and order.
