NATO am bassadors referred new proposals aimed at breaking a damaging deadlock over plans to defend Turkey in a U.S.-led war on Iraq to their governments on Wednesday and were to meet again later in the day. "There is a proposal. It needs to be discussed in the capitals. There will be another session late this evening," a senior European NATO diplomat said. France, Germany and Belgium have blocked U.S. proposals for the 19-nation alliance to start planning to send Patriot air defense missiles, early warning planes and anti-chemical and biological warfare units to Turkey.

On the third day of wrangling, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson presented slimmed-down proposals limited to planning to protect Turkey in a bid to overcome one of the most serious crises in NATO's 54-year history.

It followed a night of intense telephone diplomacy between capitals aimed at breaking resistance by France, Germany and Belgium that has plunged transatlantic relations to a low ebb.

The new proposal would "limit the alliance to the defense of Turkey. It could be a breakthrough," a diplomat said.

But it was not clear whether the trio of European dissenters would accept the proposal, which dropped plans for the 19-nation alliance to protect U.S. bases in Europe and replace troops in Balkans peacekeeping missions who may be deployed in Iraq.

France, Germany and Belgium argue that starting defense planning now would lock NATO into a "logic of war," implicitly accepting that armed conflict is inevitable.

Robertson has canceled a planned trip to Spain on Thursday to stay at alliance headquarters to handle the crisis, an aide said.

TURKEY ANXIOUS

NATO officials said the three dissenting countries might well spin out negotiations until after chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix reports to the Security Council on Friday, hoping that improved Iraqi cooperation could vindicate their anti-war stance.

"We take note of the latest (NATO) proposal with a lot of interest," a spokesman for the Belgian Foreign Ministry said. "For (Foreign Minister) Louis Michel, the Blix report is an important deadline in the decision-making process."

Turkey, which shares a frontier with Iraq and is a likely launch pad for any U.S. attack, is anxious for NATO to start planning without delay for the deployment of Patriot air defense missiles, AWACS surveillance aircraft and anti-chemical and anti-biological warfare teams.

When France, Germany and Belgium formally objected to the plan on Monday, Ankara invoked Article IV of NATO's founding treaty under which allies seek consultations if they fear they are under threat.

The row has fueled tension between Washington and countries whose arguments against war prompted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last month to brand them "old Europe."

The United States accuses them of importing political arguments made at the U.N. Security Council against military action into NATO, an organization which has a duty to make contingency plans for the defense of one of its members.

Belgium indicated for the first time on Monday that it had problems with the non-Turkey elements of the proposals for the alliance to start planning for a possible war.

Michel said guarding U.S. forces in Europe and "backfilling" for Balkans missions if troops were taken out to fight in Iraq could be seen as indirect participation in the conflict.

HIGH STAKES

The Iraq crisis has deeply split the European Union as well as NATO, pitting pro-American countries led by Britain, Spain and Italy against critics of a perceived U.S. rush to war, led by France and Germany.

European Commission (new President Romano Prodi lamented the divisions in a speech to the European Parliament on Wednesday, saying a disunited Europe would forfeit any global influence.

"Without a common approach, all the member states will disappear from the world stage," he said.

"Without a single European voice, it will be impossible to have a strong, permanent and dignified collaboration with the United States. And without collaboration between Europe and the United States, it will be impossible to guarantee world peace and stability."

Senior French strategic analyst Francois Heisbourg told Reuters the underlying transatlantic crisis might be even more serious than it appeared.

"These are very high stakes and I don't believe it will be easy for Belgium, Germany and France to climb down before the Security Council at the end of the week because it could have an impact on their position there," Heisbourg, director of the Paris-based Foundation for Strategic Research, said.

"The Americans are deliberately splitting Europe into old and new, and...Germany and France have not been shy either by not giving high priority to alliance solidarity."

PHOTO CAPTION

NATO spokesman Yves Brodeur points to a reporter during a news conference at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels February 12, 2003. NATO ambassadors referred new proposals aimed at breaking a damaging deadlock over plans to defend Turkey in a U.S.-led war on Iraq to their governments and were to meet again later in the day. (Yves Herman/Reuter