BERLIN -- Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer reaffirmed Monday that German soldiers would not take part in any multinational force in Iraq and said that reconstruction there must be led by the United Nations.

His remarks, at an ambassadors’ conference in Berlin, came in response to a speech by President George W. Bush in which the U.S. leader urged the United Nations to overcome differences on Iraq and appealed for more troops and money. In his televised address late Sunday, Bush said Washington was calling for a new UN Security Council resolution "which would authorize the creation of a multinational force in Iraq, to be led by America." Fischer said that "Our common task is to win peace" in Iraq, but he said the question that should be asked is: "Are we on the right path?"

Germany opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq, which was waged without UN approval, and has been lobbying ever since for the United Nations to return to the fore and be given a central role in rebuilding.

At the government's routine press conference Monday, a spokesman said that Berlin was studying "several options" for taking part in reconstruction, "in a humanitarian manner", but he also ruled participating in any future force.

"Everyone of our services that could contribute... have been called on," he said, but gave no further details. Despite Fischer's comments, the spokesman said that Bush's speech "gives new impetus" to Washington's plans for a UN resolution on a multinational force.