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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: paul_philp who wrote (80979)	3/10/2003 2:30:06 PM
From: Elsewhere	Respond to of 281500

The Opposition's Game Plan for Germany Interview with Dr. Wolfgang Schäuble (leading member of conservatives) Business Week March 10, 2003 wolfgang-schaeuble.de Q: What role is Iraq playing in domestic politics? Is it a distraction? A: Schröder is of course using it to distract attention from economic problems and unemployment. But that isn't going to work. The attempt to blame all the economic woes on Iraq is too easy to see through. ... Q: Assuming there is a war in Iraq and it ends successfully from a U.S. point of view, what role should Europe play in reconstruction and administration? A: I'm not ready to talk about what happens after a war. I still hope that it will be possible to disarm Iraq without a war. For that to happen, a precondition is that the Europeans show more unity and stand more clearly on the side of the U.S. When the Europeans waste their strength trying to restrain the U.S. rather than putting pressure on Saddam Hussein, they strengthen Saddam Hussein in his attempt to escape the decisions of the Security Council. So the first condition is a unified Europe. Yesterday evening there was a small step in that direction in Brussel, but not very big. Europe and the U.S. must work in the same direction. The next step will then be for Europe to take a bigger share of responsibility for stabilizing the region. Then we can talk about what we can contribute. That's why it was completely inappropriate for Schröder to say we're not taking part at all. It was completely inappropriate in terms of putting pressure on Saddam Hussein and completely inappropriate in terms of strengthening the Atlantic alliance. It weakened Europe and must be corrected. ... Q: So one can assume Europe and Germany will play a role? A: Germany's role has through the mistakes of the Chancellor become very marginalized. But I still hope that the Europeans will regain their unity. Above all I hope that Britain and France can find a way together and then with Germany and others to move toward a stronger European role. But that requires unity and not this old game of fear. That's the worst thing we can do.