BERLIN: German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer asserted on Wednesday that US policy in Iraq had failed while calling for German-American ties to be redefined on the basis of equal partners.

“The American domino theory under which a liberated Iraq was supposed to stabilize the Middle East and democratize one country after another has not proven right,” said Mr Fischer in an interview with the news magazine Stern.

He added: “The decisive question now is whether a strategy which has not worked will be replaced by one that can.”

Mr Fischer said Germany wanted a swift handover of sovereignty in Baghdad to Iraqi nationals and the United Nations. Moderate Arab and Muslim states must also be involved in stabilising Iraq, he said.

European states would hammer out a new plan for Iraq within the coming two months, Mr Fischer said without giving any further details.

While insisting transatlantic ties remained important, Mr Fischer said in a separate speech to parliament that things would have to change between Berlin and Washington.

“This means we must approach one another as partners,” said Mr Fischer, adding that Germany needed to hold a fundamental debate about the future of transatlantic ties. Mr Fischer also serves as Germany’s vice-chancellor.

Berlin would insist on a new multilateralism in global politics, said the minister.

Ties between Germany and the United States have soured over the Iraq war which German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Mr Fischer strongly opposed.

RULES OUT EU FM: In the interview, Mr Fischer declined to rule out that he still harboured ambitions to become European Union foreign minister despite plans to stand in the 2006 German election.