Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's European trip, which had been touted as a mission to help heal the trans-Atlantic rift over the Iraq war, appears to have produced no tangible results. Yet, at a minimum, the journey has served to highlight the necessity of international cooperation in the postwar reconstruction of Iraq and, more generally, in the stabilization of the Middle East.
During the five-nation swing that ended Friday, the prime minister met with leaders of Britain, Spain, France, Germany and Greece, as well as European Union officials. At a press conference in Bonn, where he wound up the main part of the eight-day trip, Mr. Koizumi said broad agreement had been reached on the need to establish an international system of cooperation for rebuilding Iraq.
In this sense, he is off to a good start. The task ahead is to give substance to the agreement. That is easier said than done, of course. But at the least he is now in a better position to press his case for multilateral cooperation. However, the prime minister will have a lot of coordinating to do with U.S. President George W. Bush when the two meet later this month, prior to the Group of Eight summit in France in early June.