EU seeks common ground on Iraq

Talks on a draft statement continued late into the night on Wednesday without agreement. A final statement on Iraq is now expected later on Thursday. A wider gathering including EU states, new members, and other countries in the region, is also taking place in Athens. This wider meeting is described as a follow-up to the main business of the summit - Wednesday's signing of a treaty on the largest expansion of the European Union yet. The statement on Iraq being circulated among EU members is said to have been drafted by the leaders of France, Germany, Spain and the UK. The treaty signed on Wednesday cements plans for the fifth enlargement of the union since the creation of the original six-member European Community in 1957. Ten new members, eight of them from the former communist bloc (including The Baltic countries), are due to join the EU in May 2004.