German stance on Iraq 'could shift'

Schroeder angered the US with his election tone

Hints of a possible softening in Germany's opposition to US policy on Iraq have emerged, in reported comments from leading members of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's SPD party.

Two of the party's foreign policy specialists gave radio interviews suggesting that fresh evidence against Iraq could herald a change in policy, said the French news agency AFP.

[Iraqi] deserters could provide new information and change the situation

Hans-Ulrich Klose
Foreign policy chairman

Mr Schroeder scraped to victory in last week's general election after a campaign based heavily on opposition to a war.

He pledged that German troops would not be committed to what he termed a US military "adventure" - striking a chord with many voters, but angering Washington.

'Another way'

Gert Weisskirchen, foreign policy spokesman of the SPD parliamentary group, said Germany might back a US resolution demanding the return of arms inspectors if clearer evidence emerged that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction.

"If there is in fact such a highly dangerous, highly explosive situation in Iraq with weapons of mass destruction, then we must reconsider whether there can be another way" to look at the problem, he said, quoted by AFP.

Germany was still categorically opposed to the US policy of "regime change" in Baghdad, he added.

And Hans-Ulrich Klose, who chairs the foreign policy committee in the lower house of parliament, said the German position could change if new evidence emerged of Iraqi terror links.

"[Iraqi] deserters could provide new information and change the situation," Mr Klose said.

Mr Schroeder has already been accused by sections of the German media of rushing to "make friends again" with Washington after the bruising election campaign.

Bridge-building

"The message of poisoned relations emanating from the White House and directed at the Chancellor's Office clearly has got through, thereby exposing the limits to the show of dissidence," the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung observed last Friday.

Germany has already offered to co-lead the international force in Afghanistan, in a move seen by observers as a bridge-building attempt.

The US made its displeasure clear after Mr Schroeder's re-election, failing to congratulate him and speaking of a "poisoned" relationship.

French talks

German policy towards Iraq is expected to feature heavily in talks between Mr Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday, which were announced by Mr Chirac's office on Monday.

Schroeder's first post-election trip was to London

The two men will meet over dinner in Paris for an informal round of discussions.

Disagreements over European policy, such as agriculture reform, may also be a key area for discussion.

Traditionally, newly-elected German chancellors pay their first foreign visit to Paris, but Mr Schroeder has already flown to London for talks with Tony Blair over Iraq.

France, unlike Germany, has not ruled out military action, but insists it must be conducted through the United Nations, and only after attempts to force Iraq into line have been exhausted.