France urges EU leaders to endorse Mecca deal

French President Jacques Chirac urged fellow EU leaders on Thursday to welcome last month's Saudi-brokered accord on a Palestinian national unity government as a step in the right direction.

France was among the first Western governments to express support for the deal. Chirac called on European Union leaders meeting in Brussels to "welcome the Mecca accords, which France sees as a first step towards applying the conditions of the Quartet" of Middle East mediators, his spokesman Jerome Bonnafont told reporters. (Reuters)