BRUSSELS, Feb 4: The European Union signalled its irritation on Monday with US President George W. Bush’s decision to bracket Iraq, Iran and North Korea in an “axis of evil”.

EU senior representatives “do not agree with that kind of policy”, European Commission spokesman Gunnar Weigand told a news conference.

The European Commission shared the worries and aims of the US on human rights, terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, he said.

“What we do not share is the policy desired to achieve these objectives,” he said. “We believe that engagement and rapprochement... should be used to achieve these aims.”

EU diplomats said they understood Bush’s State of the Union speech — in which the three states were lumped together as sponsors of terrorism — was aimed at a domestic audience outraged by the September 11 suicide hijack attacks on New York and Washington.

“We’re trying to calm things down a bit,” said one diplomat, who asked not to be named. “The State of the Union speech was for public consumption, it didn’t mean there would be immediate action.”

“The EU is worried about terrorism but there is some dismay that we have suddenly moved from a mood of cooperation to one of confrontation.”

US administration officials have insisted that the warnings to the three countries did not mean military action was imminent.

But Russia and several of the US allies, alarmed by the rhetoric coming out of Washington, have made it clear that they would not support a widening of the campaign against terrorism from Afghanistan to other countries.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Sunday there was no evidence that Iran had connections with terrorist organisations.

French Defence Minister Alain Richard said last week that many of Washington’s allies might not support attacks on Iraq. His Italian counterpart, Antonio Martino, said on Monday that Rome would not support an extension of military action outside Afghanistan unless there was “proven proof” that the country in question supported terrorism.—Reuters