Early EU eyes on Berlusconi

Berlusconi with President of the Council, Spanish foreign minister Josep Pique

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi eclipsed Zimbabwe as the main talking point at the opening of the EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels.

Berlusconi, who has assumed the role of foreign minister as well as Prime Minister in a row about how European Italy should be, swept in with by far the largest entourage, CNN's Robin Oakley reported.

But he surprised the other European foreign ministers with an opening statement which was brief and succinct, Oakley said.

Topping the agenda at the summit are possible sanctions against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe for what are seen as repressive measures prior to March 9 elections. Other key issues are the Middle East and a possible EU police force for Bosnia.

Britain -- the ex-colonial power -- was expected to press the hardest for tough sanctions against Zimbabwe.

UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw told CNN on his arrival in Brussels that Britain wants an agreement on sanctions in principle against Mugabe's regime.

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He believes that Zimbabwe should be given a short while to comply with EU demands for international observers to oversee elections on March 9 and the international media being allowed access.

If there is no assurance about observers the UK then wants sanctions automatically activated.

They would not be economic sanctions -- the Zimbabwean people seen as having already suffered from a collapsed economy -- they would be so-called "smart sanctions" targeting Mugabe and his government, freezing their assets in Europe and worldwide and banning them from overseas travel.

Straw indicated he wanted to give Zimbabwe one more chance though he doubted if that chance would be taken.

Straw slammed Mugabe as a ruthless leader who was "destroying his country's economy, damaging the rest of southern Africa and making wretched the lives of his people."

"The tragedy unfolding in Zimbabwe is driven by one man's ruthless campaign to hang on to power whatever the cost to others in the process," Straw told the Guardian newspaper in an interview.

On Wednesday, Commonwealth foreign ministers will gather in London for talks on Zimbabwe's suspension from the 54-nation group mainly made up of former British colonies.

Some EU nations fear sanctions could spur Mugabe to step up his crackdown

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai has urged EU countries to impose "targeted sanctions" on Mugabe as Straw envisages such as travel bans, freezing of assets and sending their children back to Zimbabwe.

"Those are the three conditions we are giving the EU," he told BBC radio.

But CNN's Oakley said the view of some nations at the summit was however that Mugabe could be given an excuse to crack down further and introduce more intimidation against the media.

Meanwhile EU security chief Javier Solana and External Commissioner Chris Patten told the meeting that the EU should take over the running of the police force in Bosnia next year.

Before the meeting, EU foreign ministers called for dialogue in the Middle East despite worsening violence and Sweden criticised the U.S. for siding openly with Israel against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

"I think it is very dangerous if the U.S. is supportive of the Israeli government and of the confrontation Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has tried to use in the latest weeks instead of supporting peace talks," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh told reporters on her arrival at the summit.

"The only way to go forward is to continue the peace talks, and if we deny Arafat and deny the Palestinian Authority we just increase the tensions in the region," Lindh told Reuters. "I think that is extremely worrying," she added.

European External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten echoed her concern, though he did not cite the United States by name.

"We can't just wish away either side in this Middle East peace process," he told the 15 foreign ministers in a televised debate.

Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner said the European Union must remain fully engaged in efforts to get the two sides talking again.

"In this extremely precarious, perhaps the worst situation we have had in a long time, we really must make sure that the EU remains present, that we can intervene," she said.

Other subjects on the agenda are terrorism in Spain -- which currently holds the EU presidency -- EU aid to Afghanistan, relations with Russia over its Baltic port of Kaliningrad, which is cut off from the rest of Russia by Poland and Lithuania, and the Western Balkans.