France and Britain make first moves to restore harmony

France and Britain started tentative moves yesterday to mend fences after their bitter quarrel in the UN Security Council over the need for military action against Iraq.

Banishing the overheated rhetoric that preceded the war, the two countries' top diplomats called separately for the United Nations to play an important role in the post-conflict reconstruction of Iraq and for the rebuilding of shattered international relations.

In London, Dominique de Villepin, the French Foreign Minister, stressed the need for a European consensus on how a post-war Iraq should be administered. France's priority, he said, was for a UN resolution that would enable Iraq's oil-for-food programme to be restarted as soon as possible. "The UN," he said, "must be at the heart of the reconstruction and administration of Iraq. The legitimacy of our action depends on it."

M. de Villepin's words suggested France was retreating from its earlier distinction between joining an international reconstruction effort under UN auspices – which it supports – and signing a more general UN resolution that would, in its view, bestow "retrospective UN legitimacy" on what it sees as an illegitimate war. France, in keeping with other European opponents of a war, objects to paying for war damage.

France also fears that America, with or without Britain, could gain exclusive authority over how Iraq's oil money is used. It wants the money held in a trust fund controlled by the UN and used for UN-endorsed aid and other projects.

Suggesting a desire to let bygones be bygones in Anglo-French relations, French officials noted that all the invective of recent weeks had been in one direction only. France had made no public comment or criticism of Britain's stance at the UN, they stated – correctly.

Jack Straw, theForeign Secretary, published an article in the International Herald Tribune arguing that all the "broken diplomatic crockery" over Iraq did not mean there could be no European co-operation in defence and foreign policy.

The Iraq crisis, Mr Straw, said, had shown that foreign policies were "ultimately determined by national interests". But, he went on, "this should not deter action by the EU in those areas where there is a common European interest", citing the Balkans and the Middle East as examples. He coupled Britain's calls for Europe to spend more on defence with praise for what has become known as "soft diplomacy" – peace-keeping, humanitarian aid and assisting political and social projects.

Yesterday's change of tone amounted to a mutual recognition that there could be no progress towards a UN- co-ordinated settlement for Iraq and no formal EU involvement unless the Anglo-French row was patched up. But Mr Straw was not in London to see M. de Villepin (he had accompanied Tony Blair to America) and he had no official engagements beyond his lecture at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.