ELSINORE (Denmark), Aug 31: The European Union insisted on Saturday that Iraq must “immediately” let UN weapons inspectors back into the country, as it sought to temper the drums of war from the United States.

But EU foreign ministers failed to give a deadline for Baghdad to re-admit inspectors, while distancing themselves from the threats of pre-emptive war evoked recently by US leaders.

“The Iraqi regime must allow the weapon inspectors in and it must do it immediately to ascertain whether there are weapons of mass destruction or not,” said Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller.

“The Iraqi refusal to abide by international obligations is totally unacceptable. They’re not respecting the decisions of the United Nations, they’re not letting in the weapon inspectors.

The Iraqi issue clouded a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in Hamlet’s Danish hometown of Elsinore, north of Copenhagen, even though the agenda was officially focussed on EU enlargement and the Middle East.

In fact the EU ministers, who discussed EU enlargement on Friday, did formally adopt a Middle East “road map” for the region, notably including a target of creating a provisional Palestinian state next year and a full one in 2005.

Moeller, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency, will present the plan to regional leaders during a trip to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories, starting on Monday.

But Iraq was by far the most pressing issue on the table, with EU leaders clearly at odds over military action.—AFP