Baghdad stepped up concessions to UN arms inspectors in its latest bid to show full compliance as debate swirled in the West over whether -- and when -- diplomacy should cede to military action against President Saddam Hussein.A U2 spy plane overflew Iraq on Monday, a week after Baghdad made the concession as the burden of proof that Saddam is not concealing weapons of mass destruction shifted relentlessly from the United Nations to Iraq in the countdown to all but certain war.

But as the United States and staunch ally Britain were reportedly preparing a strategy to win a UN Security Council green light to use military force, key peace advocates Germany and France held their ground at an emergency summit of the European Union on Monday.

Even before going into the meeting, French President Jacques Chirac signalled his opposition to a fresh UN resolution on Iraq.

Seeking to paper over their differences, the 15-member bloc agreed a compromise joint statement pledging to seek a peaceful solution to the crisis, without ruling out the use of force against Baghdad.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan warned that the legitimacy of any action would be impaired without a united international position, while the focus must remain on forcing Iraq to disarm.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, US President George W. Bush's staunchest ally on Iraq, was to meet the press after a new poll showed that for the first time a clear majority of Britons -- 52 percent -- oppose war with Iraq.

Blair, who has committed 30,000 troops, a 17-ship naval task force and some 100 warplanes to a possible war, was expected to again press the case for maintaining the threat against Saddam.

"There is nothing more important than for us to send that strong, unequivocal signal: Iraq will be disarmed of weapons of mass destruction," Blair said in Brussels on Monday.

"Whether it is done peacefully or by conflict, by military action, is up to Saddam and the Iraqi regime," he said.

Also Tuesday, future EU members -- some of which signed a joint declaration on February 5 backing the US argument for war on Iraq -- will be briefed on the summit.

Chirac on Monday fired off a stinging rebuke to the EU hopefuls, saying they were playing with fire at a time when public opinion in the European Union -- expressed in mass demonstrations at the weekend -- was resolutely opposed to military action against Iraq.

Chiding them like mischievous children, he told reporters: "They are on the one hand not very well brought up and a bit unaware of the dangers that a too-rapid alignment with the American position could bring with it."

Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, one of the declaration's signatories, met with Bush in Washington on Monday, saying afterward that there will be developments in the Iraq confrontation "within a matter of weeks."

The London Times reported Tuesday that Britain would consider a request by France for a meeting of the UN Security Council on March 14, but only if it believes such a move will help secure the passage of a second resolution triggering the use of force against Iraq.

Bush aides and British officials have reportedly been working on a measure authorizing military force to enforce UN Security Council resolution 1441, which demanded Iraq disarm peacefully and warned of "serious consequences" for non-compliance.

The new resolution could be unveiled as early as this week and may contain specific further substantive steps Baghdad must take to show full compliance with weapons inspections.

Meanwhile US military preparations hit a new snag as Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his country's initial decision to back US military preparations was not irreversible.

The warning from Erdogan, the head of Turkey's ruling party, came as Ankara and Washington were at an impasse over the amount of financial assistance Turkey is requesting to offset the economic damages of a war in neighboring Iraq.

Earlier this month, parliament allowed Washington to renovate and upgrade sea ports and air bases that could be used in an operation against Iraq.

"Our American friends should not interpret this decision (to mean) that Turkey has embarked on an irreversible road" in support of the United States, Erdogan said.

President Ahmet Necdet Sezer added that Turkey would only open its territory to US combat troops if a new UN resolution is passed to authorize military action against Baghdad, the Anatolia news agency reported.

In Baghdad on Monday, UN arms inspectors conducted a private interview with an Iraqi engineer working on aluminum tubes, which Washington suspects were used for a covert Iraqi nuclear weapons program.

Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) "held a private interview with a senior engineer connected with Iraq's procurement history related to 81 millimeter (3.2 inch) aluminum tubes," said UN spokesman Hiro Ueki.

Meanwhile US and British warplanes have in the past week stepped up attacks in the exclusion zones imposed by London and Washington following the 1991 Gulf War.

Iraq does not recognize the zones, which are not sanctioned by any UN resolution, and regularly accuses the planes of targeting civilian installations, a charge denied by the Western allies.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal told the BBC Monday that a unilateral attack by the United States on Iraq would be seen by many as an act of aggression.

PHOTO CAPTION

French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin (R) and Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin (L) attend a government meeting on Iraq