BRUSSELS, April 2: US Secretary of State Colin Powell’s visit to Brussels on Thursday will be dominated by discussions on “post- war scenarios” in Iraq, EU officials said on Tuesday.

Mr Powell can expect tough questioning on the conduct of the Iraq conflict, with governments in the 15-nation bloc increasingly worried about the rising number of civilian Iraqi casualties in the conflict, the treatment of military prisoners and concerns about the humanitarian situation in Basra and other parts of the country.

EU governments are also united in insisting that the United Nations must be “centre stage” in all post-war activities in Iraq.

However, officials have also welcomed Mr Powell’s visit to Europe — the first since he was in Davos for an economic forum in January — as an encouraging sign that the US wants to talk to the EU about Iraq.

Meetings have been scheduled in Brussels with a so-called EU “troika”, including Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten and EU security chief Javier Solana. Greece is the current president of the 15-nation Union.

On Thursday, Mr Powell is due to hold talks with NATO and EU foreign ministers, at least those who can make it to Brussels on short notice. Also scheduled is a bilateral meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov.

The attack on Iraq remains unpopular with the public opinion here, with polls showing that more than 80 per cent of Europeans oppose the conflict.

Governments in France, Germany and Belgium have also taken a public stance against the war while senior EU officials, including European Commission President Romano Prodi, have repeatedly warned that the conflict will bring great human suffering and risks creating a schism between the West and Muslim nations.

The commission took the unusual step on Tuesday of publicly criticizing the killing of seven Iraqi civilians by US troops as a “tragic and horrible” incident.

“We do not want to see more incidents of this kind happen. Both sides must restrain from violence against civilians...and refrain from directly targeting civilians,” Kemppinen added.

The spokesman said the commission also expected both sides to “respect and apply the Geneva Convention”.