EU leaders to hold unity meeting

EU leaders will meet in Athens on April 16 and may be joined by Russian President Vladimir Putin and some other leaders to show there is unity on the European continent despite splits over the Iraq war.

Greece, which holds the bloc's rotating presidency, said yesterday a ratification signing ceremony planned only for 10 new European Union members would now also include all 15 EU leaders as well as other European nations.

"All European Union leaders will be in Athens for the signing ceremony," a Greek foreign ministry official said, adding that Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan would attend.

He said British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi would be at the meeting.

Greek government spokesman Christos Protopapas said civil servants may get April 16 off to ease traffic problems for the ceremony at the foot of the famed Acropolis.

"This is a big day for Europe and a big day for Greece," Protopapas said.

Russia's Putin has been invited and Greek officials were waiting to hear from Moscow on whether he would attend, the foreign ministry official said.

Few leaders of the present 15 EU member states, bitterly divided over the US-led war in Iraq, had been expected at a symbolic ratification by the 10 new members of the EU, including Poland and Cyprus, for their formal joining in May 2004.

Turkey, a key player in the Baghdad conflict because it is both a neighbour of Iraq and an EU hopeful, would be present at the meeting along with Romania and Bulgaria, as they are next in a queue of nations waiting to join the EU after the 10.