European Union leaders called yesterday for a new Security Council resolution to support an increased UN role in Iraq

European Union leaders called yesterday for a new Security Council resolution to support an increased UN role in Iraq, but did not directly link it to supplying peacekeepers. In conclusions adopted at the end of a two-day summit, EU leaders said they "look forward to the UN playing a vital and growing role, endorsed by the UN Security Council in the run-up to transition and beyond". Spain's prime minister-elect, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has made it clear he will pull his country's 1300 troops out of Iraq by June 30 unless the United Nations takes control of the postwar occupation. While that has alarmed Washington and London, it puts Madrid in line with Germany and France - who have refused to send troops to Iraq without a stronger UN role. Spain's troop commitment makes up one of the largest coalition contributions in Iraq. Across town at NATO, US Ambassador Nicholas Burns said he did not want to "prejudge" what the new Spanish government might do after it takes office in mid-April. He added that Poland - another major contributor - and "a number of our NATO allies" have given assurances since the Spanish election "that they will be keeping their forces in Iraq." Other European nations that have sent peacekeepers or police to Iraq include Britain, Poland, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic. EU leaders also turned their attention Friday to their sluggish economies after bolstering the fight against terrorism on the summit's opening night on Thursday, where they approved a slew of counter-terrorism measures, including the creation of an "anti-terrorism czar".