EU military plans under scrutiny

By Stephen Sackur
BBC correspondent in Brussels

Representatives of European Union member states will meet NATO officials on Tuesday to discuss EU plans to boost the Union's military capability.

US officials have described proposals for an EU operational military headquarters as a serious threat to Nato.

Defence is one of several contentious areas of EU policy

Officials at Nato, diplomats from the EU member states and representatives of the Bush administration are all grappling with a difficult question: can the European Union beef up its own military capability without undermining the central role of the Nato alliance?

On Monday, Nato ambassadors met in private amid mutterings from Washington that a Franco-German proposal for an EU military headquarters, capable of planning and commanding military operations, was a serious threat to Nato.

The matter has come to a head now because European leaders are trying to agree on a constitution for the EU including a definition of the EU's defence commitments.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, not for the first time, is trying to steer a tricky middle course - refusing to accept the most ambitious Franco-German defence plans while accepting that the EU can and should develop an independent military capability to complement Nato.