EUROPEAN leaders struggled to prevent tensions over Iraq and transatlantic relations flaring out of control last night as President Bush’s election victory dominated an EU summit.

While Tony Blair accused Europe of being in denial about America, President Chirac of France withdrew from a lunch with Iyad Allawi, the Iraqi leader, who accused France of being a “spectator” refusing to get involved in his country’s reconstruction.

President Bush’s re-election has upset his critics in Europe, particularly in France, which had led the anti-war effort. Yesterday French politicians insisted that Mr Bush’s re-election showed the need to turn the EU into a superpower to counteract the US.

The EU summit had been meant to put European divisions over the Iraq war in the past, with EU leaders committing themselves to rebuilding the country.

Although the EU offered an additional €16.5 million (£11.5million) to help elections in Iraq, bringing the total to €31.5 million, France and Germany have refused other practical help, such as peacekeeping troops.

Mr Allawi lambasted countries that were content to watch from the sidelines as he struggled to buttress security in his country before the elections in January, declaring: “I want to take this opportunity to call on the countries that are content to have a spectator role to help us to build a better Iraq.”

Asked later whether he specifically meant France and Germany, he said: “Yes. But we want to build better relationships with France and Germany and forget the past.”

President Chirac’s office then announced that he would leave the summit early and would no longer be meeting Dr Allawi at today’s lunch. However, they insisted that it was not a snub, saying that M Chirac had to attend a memorial in the United Arab Emirates for its late leader.

Michael Ancram, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “Chirac’s dislike of all things American is well known but he should realise that the EU needs the US and the US needs the EU. His obstinacy can only make an unsettled world more unsettled.”

European leaders made appeals to put past divisions behind them. Bernard Bot, the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said of Dr Allawi’s comments: “This has angered some in Paris, and I think that the language used was not the most felicitous one. But what matters is that we strike a positive note and that we discuss with Mr Allawi the future and not look back too much.”

Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Danish Prime Minister, who supported the Iraq war, said: “You cannot escape the disagreements there have been in the run-up to the war in Iraq, but I think everyone realises and has to realise that we now face a common challenge, that is to create a sustainable democracy in Iraq.”

Although European leaders paid effusive tribute to Mr Bush’s election victory, they admitted that it would do little to ease tensions between the US and Europe, particularly over the Middle East. Michel Barnier, the French Foreign Minister, said: “Our world needs several powers. They (the US) are first. We are in the process of gathering the pieces and the will to become another power.”

Javier Solana, the EU’s foreign affairs chief, forecast inevitable frictions in the next four years, adding: “But I’m sure also we’ll be able to overcome those frictions with good will. Of course political life is not an easy journey. Sometimes you have difficulties in the journey. Mr Blair, Mr Bush’s chief European ally, underlined in congratulating Mr Bush that it was ‘ urgent’ to renew frayed transatlantic ties. Europe and America must build anew their alliance. All of us in positions of leadership have a responsibility to rise to this challenge.”

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