British troops for Euro force

Britain has now confirmed details of its planned contribution to a new European Union rapid-reaction force.

The Ministry of Defence says it will offer at least twelve-thousand troops and seventy-two combat aircraft, as well as eighteen warships, which represent half the Royal Navy's surface fleet.

The new EU military command totalling sixty-thousand personnel is expected to be in place by two-thousand-and-three, though it won't be a standing army and it won't be involved in warfare: British officials said the force could be involved in humanitarian tasks, like last year's peacekeeping in East Timor.

A BBC Defence correspondent says critics warn that with shrinking European defence budgets and a lack of equipment, the new force must work hard to be taken seriously.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service