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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and visiting French President Jacques Chirac on Monday expressed their opposition to adopting a new UN resolution on the Iraqi issue.
After his meeting with Chirac, Schroeder said the draft resolution put forward by the United States, Britain and Spain did not change the conviction of Germany and France to use all means for a peaceful resolution of the Iraqi issue.
Schroeder said that he and Chirac see no reason "to divert from our common position."
Chirac said that he did not see the benefit of the US-British-Spanish draft resolution and therefore, was opposed to it, according to German press reports.
The draft UN Security Resolution submitted by the three countries accuses Baghdad of missing the last chance to disarm, thus paving the way for a US-led military strike on Iraq.
Chirac, who came to Berlin for regular political consultations between Berlin and Paris, said earlier in the day that France, Germany and Russia had proposed to the UN Security Council that UN weapon inspections be strengthened in order to peacefully resolve the Iraqi issue.
(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2003)
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