(22 Oct 2002)

1. Pan from Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen to French President Jacques Chirac
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen:
"The Danish presidency had to set a out a clear timetable and a clear goal we aim at concluding negotiations with 10 candidate countries at the Copenhagen summit in December."
3. SOUNDBITE: (French) Jacques Chirac, French President
"Regarding the question of Iraq, our relationship with the US and France goes back a long way - they (the relationships) are good and will stay good but they are not based on the idea that the US is always right and its not enough to always approve of what they say or do to be right. This is not how we view things we have our own appreciation of things and we will express it, not in an aggressive manner, but we will express it when we have to. I repeat, war is always the worst solution and we need to do within our means to achieve our objective in this case, ensuring the disarmament and destruction of weapons of mass destruction of Iraq. Looking first at all the options and possibilities before thinking of war, in a region which doesn't need another war."
4. Chirac and Rasmussen leaving

STORYLINE:

Danish Prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen met with French president Jacques Chirac in Paris on Tuesday.

After the meeting both men held a joint press conference.

Rasmussen, who is also president of the European council, reflected on Denmark's determination to prevent any stalemate on enlargement at the EU summit, which starts on Thursday.

Denmark currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.

Rasmussen said that the EU Copenhagen summit in December will focus on concluding negotiations with the 10 candidate countries.

The enlargement of the European Union will be delayed if member countries do not reach a deal on the costs of
admitting new countries when they meet in Brussels later this week.

On the subject of Iraq President Jacques Chirac said Tuesday that France's relations with Washington are not based on the idea that the United States is "always right."

"We have our own appreciation of things, and we tell (the United States) that," Chirac said, even if "we don't say it in an aggressive way."

The comments came a day after the United States distributed a revised UN resolution on Iraq to France and other veto-wielding members of the Security Council.

Asked for France's reaction to the US draft resolution, Chirac declined to comment directly, saying only that France's relations with the United States "are good and will stay that way."

Chirac reiterated France's stance that war with Iraq should be the last option.

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