Dominique de Villepin hosted a lunch with Joschka Fischer and Igor Ivanov before flying to Rome for afternoon talks with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini and an audience with the pope.

At a news conference, the French foreign minister said the UN should play a role in Iraq "from now on ... especially in the humanitarian field."

"We are all aware that we are in an open crisis in Iraq, with all the dramas that that implies. The first urgency is humanitarian ... Every perspective on the future of Iraq must take into account the state of Iraq after the war," de Villepin said.

Fischer said the three countries shared "a very great convergence of views on the central role of the UN."

According to Ivanov: "Today we must insist on an end to hostilities as quickly as possible ... An end to the war can only serve everyone's interests."

The meeting between the three countries who led opposition to war in Iraq came a day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell met NATO and EU foreign ministers in Brussels. Powell's visit was seen as the first step in a process of reconciliation between Washington and its critics.

European countries are pressing for a central role for the UN in Iraq's post-war administration, but the US has made clear it will reserve for itself and Britain a free hand in determining how the country is run until it decides otherwise.

However Powell told France's Le Figaro newspaper Friday that the UN "has to be associated" with Iraq's post-war administration. He said it should play a part in running humanitarian aid programmes and installing an eventual civilian authority.

In recent days -- with US-British forces making headway in the war -- France, Germany and Russia have for the first time made clear they want US-led coalition forces to win the conflict. This marks a shift away from what appeared to be a neutral position based on their view that the war was illegal.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told parliament in Berlin that his country hoped the war would end quickly with the fall of Saddam Hussein. On Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country did not wish the United States to fail.

French President Jacques Chirac sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth Thursday apologising for the defacement of a British war cemetery and saying the thoughts of all French were with British soldiers fighting in Iraq.

France is hopeful that it can persuade Britain to support its view that UN authority is essential to legitimise post-war arrangements in Iraq.

One issue is the timing and phrasing of a new UN Security Council resolution to set post-war Iraq within an international framework. France does not want to approve any wording that appears to legitimise the US-British invasion.

De Villepin issued an implicit warning to the US Friday not to monopolise the handing out of reconstruction contracts in Iraq but to ensure the international community is involved.

"The idea that Iraq can be some kind of Eldorado, a cake that countries can share out seems to me to run counter to good sense and to the reality of a population and a nation which are right now being put to the test and need to be rebuilt.

"I am convinced that Iraq will stay for many months, even many years, a concern and a duty for the international community. The responsibility of the whole international community is involved," he said.

SPACE.WIRE