"We underlined together our will to reject any fracture between Europe and the Arab-Muslim world," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin at the end of the so-called five-plus-five summit in southern France.

The annual informal gathering brings together France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain with Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

Among the European countries, all except France supported the US-led invasion of Iraq, but officials said discussions were friendly. "There was no bitterness," said one.

Ministers watched the pictures of the momentous scenes in Baghdad, prompting the Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to praise the "enthusiasm" of the Iraqi population.

De Villepin said the end of Saddam Hussein's regime represented "a dark page" that has turned.

But he went on: "I think also of the Arab peoples, their worries and their feelings often made up of fruistration, injustice and humiliation."

In a concluding statement, the 10 called for "a central role in the process of political, administrative, economic and social reconstruction of Iraq."

They also called for a "rapid resumption of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process," and an early implementation of the so-called roadmap -- the document on Middle East peace agreed by the United Nations, the United States, the EU and Russia.

SPACE.WIRE