At summit talks in Berlin, leaders of the three major European powers said they broadly agreed on the need for a rapid transition.

"We all want to see a stable and democratic Iraq and that the transition to democracy occurs as quickly as possible," Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

"Whatever the positions in the conflict, the entire world has an interest in seeing these things happen. Whatever the differences there are, they can be resolved and I am sure they will be."

He said the fact that discussions were taking place at the United Nations on a possible resolution for post-war Iraq "indicates the agreement on the key role that the UN should have."

"It is in everyone's interest that we reach agreement and I believe that we will."

But German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac acknowledged that while they agreed on the broad outlines, there were still differences.

Schroeder said there was a "need for discussions," and Chirac said the concerns of London, Paris and Berlin "were not yet completely convergent."

Pressed on that question, the French president said they did not agree "on the modalities (of a transition) and the calendar."

Saturday's two-hour trilateral talks were designed to heal Europe's bitter diplomatic wounds over the US-led Iraq war, which was supported by Britain but fiercely opposed by France and Germany.

Washington is currently trying to draft a resolution that would share the financial and military burden of Iraq's reconstruction.

All three posed for photographs before heading inside for a scheduled two-hour working lunch.

Later they were to hold a joint news conference where they were expected to underline a minimum consensus on the need to stabilise post-war Iraq.

The talks were also due to focus on EU reforms, notably a new constitution to underpin the bloc after it expands to 25 members next year and Franco-German aspirations of developing an independent EU military capability.

But Iraq was at the heart of the summit, which comes as Washington prepares to draw up a UN resolution aimed at sharing the financial and military burden of Iraq's reconstruction.

France and Germany, which fiercely opposed the war, want a greater UN role and a faster transfer of power to Iraqi civilian authorities than Washington appears ready to concede so far.

Nevertheless, Berlin and Paris have shown recent signs of compromise, with the former offering to help train Iraqi police and military and the latter now talking of a "symbolic" transfer of power.

The United Nations must play "a central role" in Iraq, Schroeder emphasised in an article Friday in the New York Times.

But in an interview Saturday in a German daily, he reiterated that Germany was ready to help "so that there is a prospect for stability and democracy in Iraq."

Britain, the United States' staunchest ally in prosecuting the war, shares the US view that a transfer should not be rushed.