EU positions
Mar. 17th, 2003 07:08 pmSpawned by a discussion on the crack bored of whether or not Europe supports the
apparently imminent U.S. attack on Iraq, I began compiling a list of European
countries and their stances. Updated until my curiosity is assuaged (yes, I
just wanted to use
assuaged
). List
of countries comes from the official European Union site.
Members of the European Union | |||
Country | Government position | Popular position | Notes |
Austria | against w/o new U.N. resolution1 | haven't found official position yet. link states that until the U.N. explicitly authorizes a use of force, that Austria's territory and airspace cannot be used. | |
Belgium | against (translation) | ||
Denmark | for | position deduced from this news article. however, i haven't found an authoritative source yet. | |
Finland | against w/o new U.N. resolution1 | ||
France | against | has stated that it's position will change if Iraq uses chemical weapons against the U.S. | |
Germany | against | ||
Greece | non-committal | ||
Ireland | non-committal | ||
Italy | for | does not state explicitly that it favors unilateral action (and statements in January make clear the Italian government believes that the U.N. should be the guiding body on Iraq). however, the Italian government disagrees strongly with the French approach and states that it is Iraq's duty to prove it has disarmed, rather than the U.N.'s duty to prove it is still armed. overall, they seem to be in the for column, although perhaps not as strongly as the U.S. | |
Luxembourg | against | ||
Netherlands | for | Pulled from this A.P. news story. | |
Portugal | for | Supports the attack, according to this article. | |
Spain | for | According to the A.P., Spanish troops will only actin support role. Will not participate in attack. | |
Sweden | against w/o new UN resolution 1 | ||
United Kingdom | for | Labour party of P.M. Tony Blair is not solidly behind their leader's stance wrt Iraq. | |
European countries not part of the EU | |||
Country | Government position | Popular position | Notes |
Albania | for 2 | U.S. counts Albania as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Andorra | |||
Belarus | |||
Bosnia-Herzegovina | non-committal | ||
Bulgaria | for 2 | U.S. counts Bulgaria as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Croatia | for 2 | ||
Cyprus | |||
Czech | for | key phrase in statement:
The Czech Republic therefore welcomes the continued multilateral approach favoured by the U.S.U.S. counts the Czech Republic as a coalition member, according to this. |
|
Estonia | for 2 | U.S. counts Estonia as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Hungary | for | U.S. counts Hungary as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Iceland | Not sure. This statement uses strong language, but doesn't really commit to anything. I suspect that this is a for statement, but it's hard to tell. | ||
Latvia | for 2 | U.S. counts Latvia as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Liechtenstein | |||
Lithuania | for 2 | According to this, Lithuania will not provide troops but will provide humanitarian aid as well as use of bases and airspace. U.S. counts Lithuania as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia | for 2 | U.S. counts Macedonia as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Malta | |||
Moldova | |||
Monaco | |||
Norway | against | ||
Poland | for | U.S. counts Poland as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Romania | for 2 | U.S. counts Romania as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Russia | against | ||
San Marino | |||
Serbia and Montenegro | non-committal | ||
Slovakia | for 2 | U.S. counts Slovakia as a coalition member, according to this. | |
Slovenia | for 2 | ||
Switzerland | against | ||
Turkey | undecided | Pulled from this New York Times article. | |
Ukraine | against | ||
Vatican City | against | From linked statement:
The Holy See maintains that there are still peaceful avenues within the context of the vast patrimony of international law and institutions which exist for that purpose. |
1 Countries that have stated they do not support the attack without a second U.N. resolution may in fact support strong military action. Where I could find it, I note when the country has made clear an intention to vote for a use of force resolution.
2 The Vilnius Group of countries support a resolution laying out demands and explicitly authorizing force should the demands not be met. However, I have found no documentation regarding their support for a unilateral attack without another U.N. resolution.