ANSA.it - News in English - Prodi confirms withdrawal from Iraq

ANSA.it - News in English - Prodi confirms withdrawal from Iraq

Prodi confirms withdrawal from Iraq Centre-left leader also stresses commitment to EU (ANSA) - Rome, April 12 - Centre-left leader Romano Prodi confirmed on Wednesday that his coalition intended to pull Italian troops out of Iraq by the end of 2006 and to push for a softer European line on Hamas .

In a series of comments to the media on his foreign policy objectives, the former European Commission chief also confirmed that he would be more pro-Brussels and less pro-Washington than Premier Silvio Berlusconi .

Much of the foreign interest in Prodi's foreign policy focused on Italy's involvement in Iraq. The country did not take part in the US-led war but sent troops later for peacekeeping and reconstruction .

Prodi and the centre left opposed Italian involvement from the start. "We will withdraw our troops from Iraq in agreement with the Baghdad government and we will send a civilian contingent to help with the reconstruction," he said in an article in French daily Le Monde .

Pressed to say exactly when the troops would come home, Prodi later told Italian television that the Berlusconi government had already said soldiers would be pulled out by the end of 2006 .

"We will respect that deadline," he said .

But his hard-left allies in Rome appeared to see this as not soon enough. "We have to arrange for an immediate withdrawal," said Marco Rizzo of the Italian Communists' Party .

In an interview with Arab satellite television al Jazeera, Prodi was quizzed about the Mideast peace process and the European Union's attitude to Hamas, the militant movement which won Palestinian elections earlier this year .

"I will work in Europe for a new position on the Palestinian government and I'm paying close attention to Hamas's signals of openness," Prodi said .

The EU this month cut direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, saying Hamas must recognise the right of Israel to exist and acknowledge past peace agreements .

In other interviews, the centre-left leader was keen to stress his desire to overcome a rift which Berlusconi's pro-American line had provoked between Italy on the one side and France and Germany on the other. Berlusconi has been one of President George W.Bush's staunchest allies in Europe and the two have developed a warm personal relationship .

Prodi said that his first international engagement as premier was likely to be the EU summit in June. Referring to his coalition's avowed commitment to Europe, he told French radio that it was "as if things were arranged like that on purpose" .

"Italy's neighbours have reason to be happy. At least now they have a reliable partner with an undoubted commitment to Europe," he wrote in Le Monde .