"The international community has been deeply divided over how to handle Iraq -- now we have to find ways to jointly counter the threat from weapons of mass destruction in other parts of the world, without the use of violence," Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh said in an article co-written with her Greek counterpart Giorgios Papandreou in Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter on Thursday.

"We must lift the issue of weapons of mass destruction back to the top of the agenda again. We have for a while had the impression that the threat posed by such weapons had been eliminated, but the case of Iraq clearly shows the risks," Lindh said in a separate statement.

The Swedish initiative, to be presented on Monday, includes proposals calling on all EU member states to implement the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and urging the EU to try to convince countries outside the Union to agree to inspections from the UN nuclear watchdog body IAEA.

It will also suggest that the EU discuss control mechanisms for the UN convention on biological and chemical weapons.

The Swedish foreign ministry said Lindh had already discussed the initiative with several of her EU counterparts and it had been received with "great interest".

SPACE.WIRE