The text of an European Union statement on the Mohammed cartoons row has been contested by Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot who wished to make it "clear that we do not make an apology for the cartoons." The first paragraph of the statement currently reads "The (EU) council acknowledges and regrets that these cartoons were considered offensive and distressing by Muslims across the world."

Bernard Bot has additionally lodged a protest with EU head of foreign policy Javier Solana for comments Solana made which the Dutch foreign minister ammounted to an apology to Muslim countries for the cartoons.

Denmark's Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller confirmed he is "pleased" with the declaration and the unanimity displayed by the EU member states in supporting Denmark. Denmark was reportedly unhappy with the Dutch position on the cartoons issue and rather supported the more conciliatory position put forward by Spain. Per Stig Moller has pledged 200,000 euros for the 'Alliance of Civilisations' scheme initiated by Spain and has announced that a con-ference on stereotypes in schoolbooks and the media will be held in Denmark.

Editors Weblog comment: what is interesting here is that we had exactly the same discussion two weeks ago in Brussels with journalistics organisations. For instance the World Editors Forum and the World Association of Newspapers have not signed the declaration presented by the International Federation of Journalists because we thought that the main issue is to start a dialogue but without making apologies for something we are defending: press freedom.

Here is the introduction of the statement of conclusions of the meeting endorsed by organisations (see below) who signed the IFJ declaration: "A meeting of media professionals called by the International Federation of Journalists, held in Brussels, on February 15th 2006, to discuss the controversy regarding the publication of cartoons in Denmark and other countries which have caused regrettable offence to many people in Europe and around the world agreed the following..."

We cannot speak for other organisations, but some others including the European Publishers Association (ENPA) didn't sign the IFJ declaration. Other organisations such as the International Press Institute did sign it.

Source: EU Observer