De Villepin, in Gothenburg for talks with his Swedish counterpart Anna Lindh, told AFP that while current and future members of the European Union were divided over the Iraq war, the EU had entered "a new phase, we have all turned the page".

He said the time had come for European "initiative, conviction and recovered unity".

"There will be ... steps ahead of us which will give us the opportunity to discuss, to bring our points of view closer together and to act together, because the world needs action," de Villepin said.

While France and Germany have opposed the US-led war in Iraq, Britain has been Washington's main ally.

De Villepin noted however that the European community was "united on the question of the future of Iraq and its reconstruction."

"We've been having very close contacts with all of the Europeans, including the British, and one thing we share is that there should be a common effort by the international community, a common effort by the UN and the Europeans, because I believe we have a good chance to be united in this new phase," he stressed.

"We need an international order and legitimacy, and the United Nations is in our eyes the best tool, the best instrument to attain this," he stressed.

Apart from reconstruction in Iraq, France's top diplomat also highlighted the Middle East peace process, regional crises, the fight against weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, fundamentalism and the situation in North Korea as areas requiring a united international community.

SPACE.WIRE