BERLIN, March 25 (Reuters) - The European Union's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Tuesday the EU was willing to help with reconstruction work in post-war Iraq if the United Nations were to provide a mandate for these activities.
"We are willing and able to take up responsibility as soon as the United Nations provides us with a mandate," Solana told ARD television. Reuters translated his comments from German. "For the European Union, it would be difficult to become involved after the conflict if activities were not embedded in a U.N. resolution," he said, adding that the United Nations should have a central role in any humanitarian effort.
Solana said a U.N. mandate would also benefit the United States, as it could help win the support of the entire international community for the reconstruction process.
"I don't think our friends in the United States want to appear as permanent occupants of the country," he said. Solana said the European Union was also willing to support the political process in a post-war Iraq at a later time, but he said it was too early to assess whether U.N. soldiers, police or other experts would help after fighting ends.
European Union countries are deeply divided over the U.S.-led military campaign against Iraq. While Europe's leading military power Britain is fighting alongside the United States in Iraq, France and Germany strongly oppose the war.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has said that Europe's largest economy is willing to provide humanitarian aid and would support the rebuilding effort at the end of the war.
But Overseas Development Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul said on Tuesday that those bearing the responsibility for the war should also carry the main cost of rebuilding Iraq. "Those who destroy also carry the main burden of reconstruction," she told ARD television.
She also said the United Nations should be at the heart of the reconstruction process. "There must not be a U.S. protectorate (in Iraq)," she said.