France confirms plans to boost EU's defence arm

(BRUSSELS) - France said Monday it would launch a new campaign to strengthen the EU's defence capability when it takes over the bloc's presidency on July 1.

"We have had very intensive discussions with the British. Same for the Germans and Spaniards," Defence Minister Herve Morin said, on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign and defence ministers in Brussels.

"A whole series of projects are on the table," he told reporters, including a revamped defence strategy and a surveillance network for the EU's coastline.

Since coming to power, President Nicolas Sarkozy has offered to reintegrate France into NATO's military command structure, which Charles de Gaulle pulled out of in 1966, in exchange for a defence boost in Europe.

Britain has proved an obstacle, amid reluctance to boost the EU headquarters in Brussels and increase the European Defence Agency's budget.

Another hurdle has been Germany, which France would have to convince to make a special effort to bring its military spending up to the level of Paris and London.

The United States -- NATO's biggest and most powerful member -- had been reluctant to strengthen Europe's defences, amid concerns that it would prove expensive and double-up on NATO capabilities.

But Washington's position has softened since Sarkozy took office last year.

"Our goal ... is to put in place a shared vision and objectives as well as common capacities and means for credible civil and military defences" in Europe, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said.

"The means that we have at our disposal at the moment, objectively, are not up to European standards, politically, economically and technologically," he said, at a conference outside the meeting in Brussels.

"We have to draw lessons from the problems we had trying to drum up 3,000 troops for Chad," he said, underlining that EU governments committed in 1999 "to build a 60,000-strong force that could be deployed within 60 days by 2003."

The EUFOR Chad mission will eventually number 3,700 troops, some 2,000 of them from France.

The contingent was meant to deploy in November last year but only began to move there in January, due to a shortfall in troops and equipment and a funding row.