France says Europe must back Iraq peace effort

PARIS, Aug 31 (Reuters) Europe must fully back a wider United Nations effort to bring peace to Iraq and should avoid trying to ''punish'' the United States, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said today.

''The international community, and in particular Europe, has to start on the way to applying the latest resolution of the United Nations from August,'' Kouchner told French radio.

The Security Council approved a US and British-backed resolution earlier this month giving an expanded role to the four year-old UN Assistance Mission for Iraq.

Kouchner himself visited Baghdad following the resolution, the first time a top French official had done so since the 2003 invasion, which France opposed.

''I hope other European foreign ministers will follow this example,'' he said.

His visit to Iraq underlined a change in tone between Paris and Washington since the election of President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has taken a much more US-friendly approach than his predecessor Jacques Chirac.

Kouchner said the disagreements over the Iraq war, which many European governments opposed, should be put to one side in the interests of stabilising the current situation.

''The Americans should not be punished for having done that,'' Kouchner said. ''A calendar for the withdrawal of troops can be envisaged by the Americans and the Iraqis together.'' ''We have to see, with them and with the Iraqi government, how we can get out of this crisis. Obviously this crisis is not just Iraqi, it is regional and Iran plays a very particular role there,'' he said, without providing details.

Reuters KK RN1428