I was also disappointed by the rather dismissive attitude of the French President of the viewpoint of some of the emerging countries of eastern Europe which expressed their views on the Iraq crisis. Their views were dismissed as if they were almost the second-hand comments of second-rate countries. In a Europe of equals everybody must be listened to and everybody's argument must be given equal weight. This was not a particularly helpful intervention by President Chirac and I hope it is not indicative of what is to come in a bigger European Union. We must all try to work together.