european economic engagement with iraq is thus increasing, and can be expected to continue to increase depending, ultimately, on the level of stability in iraq. european aid for reconstruction in iraq, however, has been modest, and here political factors are significant. countries that opposed the war have been reluctant to contribute largely to the rebuilding of iraq in a process that they regarded as fundamentally illegitimate. the french refusal to make a donation of any kind at the conference in madrid in october 2003 offers perhaps the clearest example of this.