Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said on Tuesday that Spain's cooperation with France and Germany will not damage its relations with the United States.

In an interview with a local television station, Moratinos saidthat "a strong Europe" calls for "more balanced trans-Atlantic relations."

The remarks came one day after a meeting here among Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on the future of Europe.

In the television program, the foreign minister also defended the comments made by Zapatero in Tunisia on the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq.

He said Spanish diplomacy aims at solving the crisis in the Middle East through more political and less military means.

Moratinos stressed that Spain wants to "work together with its allies in the struggle against terrorism and demonstrate its solidarity in this common battle."

Last week, during a visit in Tunis, Zapatero said that "if moredecisions were taken along the lines of that was taken by the Spanish government, that would open up a more favorable prospect" of peace in Iraq.

Earlier on Tuesday, the US government asked the Spanish government to clarify Zapatero's comments regarding his desire to see foreign troops leave Iraq.

Zapatero and his Spanish Socialist Party beat the Popular Partyled by former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in the general elections on March 14. The new government completed the withdrawalof its 1,300 soldiers from Iraq in May.

Source: Xinhua