Dominique de Villepin was to host a lunch with Joschka Fischer and Igor Ivanov before flying to Rome for afternoon talks with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini and an audience with the pope.

The meetings come a day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell met NATO and European foreign ministers in Brussels in what was seen as the first step in a process of reconciliation between the US and Europe after the bitter divisions over the Iraqi war.

European countries are pressing for a central role for the UN in Iraq's post-war administration, but the US has made clear it will reserve for itself and Britain a free hand in determining how the country is run until it decides otherwise.

However Powell told France's Le Figaro newspaper Friday that the UN "has to be associated" with Iraq's post-war administration, and that it should play a part in running humanitarian aid programmes and installing an eventual civilian authority.

In recent days -- with US-British forces appearing to make headway in the war -- France, Germany and Russia have for the first time made clear they want US-led coalition forces to win the conflict, moving away from what appeared to be a neutrality based on their view that the war was illegal.

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder told parliament in Berlin that his country hoped the war would end quickly with the fall of Saddam Hussein, and on Wednesday Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country did not wish the United States to fail.

French President Jacques Chirac sent a letter to Queen Elizabeth Thursday apologising for the defacement of a British war cemetery and saying the thoughts of all French were with British soldiers fighting in Iraq.

France is hopeful that it can persuade Britain to support its view that UN authority is essential to legitimise post-war arrangements in Iraq.

The three foreign ministers were expected to discuss the timing and phrasing of a new UN Security Council resolution to set post-war Iraq within an international framework. All three countries are concerned not to approve any wording that appears to legitimise the US-British invasion.

Another topic was expected to be the idea for a reconstruction conference like the one that took place near Bonn following the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

WAR.WIRE