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French plans to create a European military capacity alongside existing Nato structures are meeting strong resistance from its EU partners.
Hubert Védrine, French foreign minister, yesterday admitted there was a "real disagreement" between those who wanted to develop an EU military capability exclusively within the alliance and those such as France who wanted it more loosely linked to Nato.
Talking to French journalists, he said France wanted Europe to have the possibility of an autonomous defence capacity separate from Nato, while also being part of the alliance's structure for the defence of Europe. "We are the only ones to defend these two options," he said.
Last July, President Jacques Chirac of France wrote to EU heads of government seeking support for the setting up of a separate EU military committee and a European military staff headquarters. This followed concern at Europe's heavy dependence upon the US contribution to all aspects of the Kosovo conflict.
Although both President Chirac and his ministers have since raised the matter with EU counterparts they have continued to receive a cool response. The proposals were discussed in depth for the first time this week at a joint meeting of defence and foreign ministers.
Alain Richard, French defence minister, said the EU should start thinking about the creation of a military secretariat to lay the groundwork for a future military command staff.
He also said the EU should have an autonomous capacity for both strategic and tactical military planning based on its intelligence networks.
The French ideas go well beyond the modest start to forging a European defence identity agreed by Britain and France last year at their summit in St Malo. Both Britain and Germany are concerned that attempts to operate outside Nato structures would risk duplication and antagonise the US.