The withdrawal of Italian troops from Iraq topped the agenda of a meeting in Rome on Friday between Italy's new Premier Romano Prodi and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Prodi emerged from the working lunch with Blair to tell reporters that the Italian and British defence ministers would soon meet to arrange details of the pullout. "The decision to withdraw has been taken and so the discussion was about the best way to put it into practice... so that the situation remains under control and the necessary elements of security are not lost," said the centre-left premier.
He stressed that Italian troops in Iraq where under British command and so the withdrawal had to be closely coordinated with Britain. Italy did not take part in the 2003 US-led war in Iraq but later sent troops for peacekeeping and reconstruction.
Some 2,600 Italian troops are currently serving there as part of a British-led multinational stabilisation force in the southern part of the country. Prodi, who narrowly beat previous premier Silvio Berlusconi at the polls in April, has said Italy will pull out of Iraq by the end of the year. This would be in line with a deadline set by the Berlusconi government.
Last month, Prodi condemned the Iraq war as a "grave error" which had created "new pretexts for terrorist actions".
While affirming his commitment to close ties with Washington, the former European Commission chief indicated that Italy's priorities were now with Europe. His position contrasted with that of Berlusconi, who was a staunch ally of US President George W. Bush - as well as Blair - and made Italo-American relations a priority. While Berlusconi supported Bush's decision to invade Iraq three years ago and afterwards sent troops, Prodi and the centre left opposed Italian involvement from the start.
In the run-up to the general election, Prodi also stressed he was keen to overcome divisions which Berlusconi's pro-American line had created between Italy on the one side and France and Germany on the other. Friday's meeting was the first between Blair and Prodi since Prodi became premier. Over the past week, Blair has been on holiday in Italy with his family and on Monday had dinner with Berlusconi.
On Saturday morning, the prime minister had an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican before returning home. Blair and the Pope are believed to have discussed plans for a papal visit to Britain. Benedict initially planned to visit Britain next year but the trip had to be postponed because of the pope's busy schedule.
Blair's last papal audience was in February 2003, when he met with the late pope John Paul II at the height of the Iraqi crisis. John Paul was extremely active in moves to stave off a conflict in Iraq and is believed to have pressed his anti-war
line with Blair during their meeting.
