France called yesterday for a change of policy direction in Iraq, with the United States handing security over to a United Nations-mandated multilateral force and political power to an Iraqi provisional government.

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, speaking a day after Washington indicated it could consider a UN-sponsored force, said France wanted ?a real international force? but did not say exactly what that meant.

Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said in an interview released on Wednesday that Washington ? which wants help to assure security in an increasingly insecure Iraq ? might accept a UN force if the commander was an American.

?A real change of approach is needed (in Iraq),? Villepin told the annual meeting of French ambassadors in Paris. ?We must end the ambiguity, transfer responsibilities and allow the Iraqis to play the role they deserve as soon as possible.

?The eventual (security) arrangements cannot just be the enlargement or adjustment of the current occupation forces. We have to install a real international force under a mandate of the United Nations Security Council.?

While Washington has begun to signal some flexibility on the military side in Iraq, it has officially refused to consider giving up control of reconstruction efforts as Villepin urged. In a blunt interview with the daily Le Figaro, however, a leading Pentagon advisor and staunch critic of Paris?s Iraq policy echoed the French call for a power transfer in Baghdad. ?Today, the answer is to hand over power to the Iraqis as soon as possible,? Richard Perle said.

Stress on UN role

In his speech, Villepin stressed the leading role France wanted the United Nations to play ? an approach that infuriated Washington in the weeks before the outbreak of war as Paris threatened to veto any UN resolution authorising an attack.

He said the US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council should be turned into ?a real provisional government whose legitimacy would be reinforced by the United Nations.? The UN Security Council should pass a resolution setting elections for a constituent assembly by the end of this year, he added.

Villepin told the ambassadors that Europe and the United States share common values and interests that went beyond the tensions they experienced earlier this year when France, Germany and Russia opposed Washington?s war plans.

?It is in the interest of the United States to share the risks with Europe, and therefore the responsibilities,? he said, adding Europe had to provide the means to put its different view of world affairs into practice.

Villepin renewed a call first made by President Jacques Chirac for a Transatlantic Charter that would define how to pursue common policies and smooth over differences.

He proposed a reform of the United Nations with an enlarged Security Council and a ?disarmament corps? with arms inspectors ready ?to respond to new demands arising from current proliferation risks from Iraq to North Korea.?

He also suggested creating a ?Peace Council? consisting of monthly meetings of foreign ministers from all Security Council members to discuss world conflicts.

Tom Heneghan