Eu May Delay Cuba Move

There was unanimous condemnation of the US legislation at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Tralee, Ireland.

But Jacques Santer, president of the European Commission, said it would be wise to wait before enforcing counter-measures or lodging an appeal to the World Trade Organisation.

The cautious EU approach set the tone for a meeting which underlined serious divisions over US military action in Iraq and the limits to a common EU foreign policy.

Dick Spring, the Irish chairman of the talks, announced an agreement to hold a special EU summit on October 5 to give fresh impetus to the intergovernmental conference to review the Maastricht treaty.

The summit take place three days before theConservative party begins its annual conference. Malcolm Rifkind, the UK foreign secretary, questioned the need for the summit.

Circumstances may prove that my caution is unnecessary. But I start off with just a tinge of uncertainty as to whether this meeting will prove to have been entirely necessary.

Eurosceptic Tory MPs said the summit would test the willingness of John Major, the UK prime minister, to resist moves towards European integration.

If there is an embarrassment over the timing of the summit it is self-inflicted, said Bill Cash, Tory MP for Stafford.

Financial Times

The government granted too much at Maastricht and this has encouraged the other member states to press ahead with their plans for a single currency and common foreign policy.

Pressure for the mini- summit was led by France.

But Spring said that the priority was to finalise a draft treaty text in time for the full EU summit in mid-December.

Brussels appears to be pinning hopes on a Democrat victory in the congressional elections, giving President Clinton more room to manoeuvre.

The Helms-Burton and D'Amato laws penalise foreign companies doing certain business with Cuba, Iran and Libya