March 2, 2003	Sunday	Zul Hijjah 28, 1423

PARIS, March 1: Seventy per cent of the French, according to a poll published in Saturday morning’s issue of the national daily Le Parisien, say that if a second resolution authorizing a military intervention in Iraq is introduced before the UN Security Council, they want France to make use of its veto to block the measure. Only 22 per cent of those asked said they were against the idea.

The results come just as President Jacques Chirac finds himself pressured by many members of his own UMP political party to think twice about making use of the French veto. Mr Chirac and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin are scheduled to discuss possible coordination with Russia — which on Friday expressed the “probability” of the use of its own veto at the UN Security Council — on Wednesday when Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov will be in Paris for high-level talks with regard to a possible war in Iraq.

A spokesman for the pollsters, CSA, said support for a veto cut across all categories surveyed by age, social class and profession. In terms of age, it is the 18-24-year-old age group (79 per cent) that is most “ardently” for use of the veto.