Brussels, Belgium ? Trying to salvage some unity at a time of deep division, European leaders told Iraq on Monday that it had a “last chance” to disarm immediately but stopped short of saying when continued noncompliance by Baghdad would lead to war.

After a weekend outpouring of antiwar sentiment in many of their capitals, the heads of the 15 European Union nations met in an emergency session to patch over differences that have severely strained relations among them and with the United States.

The result was a joint statement affirming their desire to see Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein eliminate any weapons of mass destruction, a process that they warned could not be drawn out indefinitely. But the statement did not go much further, indicating that fundamental questions about the need and timing for military intervention remain unresolved.

U.S. officials indicated that they and their British allies were planning to go ahead with the introduction this week of a second U.N. resolution that would push reluctant Security Council members to confront Iraq.

Even as European leaders were making their show of unity, France explicitly rebuffed the U.S. and British efforts to shape a new resolution authorizing the use of force against Iraq. French President Jacques Chirac told reporters before the EU summit that inspectors ought to be allowed more time to do their work.

“There is no need for a second resolution today, which France would have no choice but to oppose,” Chirac said.

Chirac also launched a withering attack on eastern European nations who signed letters backing the U.S. position on Iraq, warning it could jeopardize their chances of joining the EU.

“It is not really responsible behavior,” he said. “It is not well brought-up behavior. They missed a good opportunity to keep quiet.”

Although Washington insists that it needs no further U.N. backing to launch military action, it has tried in recent days to garner a measure of international support.

The contents of a new Security Council resolution have yet to be decided. But in addition to pronouncing Iraq in breach of U.N. requirements, U.S. and British officials are weighing whether to include specific deadlines for demands to be met, such as more extensive private interviews with Iraqi scientists, surveillance flights and the destruction of prohibited missiles and other arms.

An open U.N. debate is scheduled to begin today, giving countries that are not members of the Security Council a chance to express their views. The debate is likely to continue into Wednesday, meaning that any new resolution might not be introduced until later in the week.

Meanwhile, on Monday in Iraq, the first of the U-2 spy plane flights long demanded by the United Nations to aid weapons inspectors in Iraq took place, the Foreign Ministry announced, in what appeared to be the latest sign that Baghdad wishes to appear more cooperative in order to blunt the chances of a U.S.-led attack.