Iraq, Iran, Middle East on agenda for EU-US summit

BRUSSELS, Feb 18 (AFP) - Iran, Iraq and the Middle East are on the agenda of official subjects at next week's EU-US summit but European and US leaders are not scheduled to speak about China and the Kyoto protocol, an EU source said Friday.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair is slated to speak about the Middle East, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder about Iran and Slovakian Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda about Iraq, according to a list of themes to be touched on at the meeting, the source said.
US President George W. Bush is to speak on three occasions during the summit, which is scheduled to last two hours and which follows on the heels of a NATO meeting.
Among other speakers, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is scheduled to talk about transatlantic relations, Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende about terrorism, French President Jacques Chirac about European integration and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero about an EU-Mediterranean partnership programme, the source said.
However, the questions of lifting a European embargo on arms sales to China and the Kyoto protocol on global warming -- two points of contention between the US and Europe -- are not scheduled to be raised, the source said.
Bush kicks off his European tour on Sunday with two days in Brussels for the EU and NATO summits.

02/18/2005 15:30 GMT - AFP