EU trio agree on military planning wing

"We have defined the basis for a proposal with our British and German friends and we will submit it to the conference tonight," French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference as the EU held talks on its first constitution.

"This is a key issue. We can't have a Europe without defence," de Villepin separately told France-Info radio from Naples.

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A British Foreign Office spokesman said: "I can confirm we have a set of several ideas in draft.

"We will be discussing it with our key allies and partners," he said on condition of anonymity, indicating further discussions with the rest of the EU and the United States.

"Any EU operations planning capability has to be compatible with NATO," the official added.

Agreement by the EU's "big three" would significantly ease the path to finalising the constitution's text on the bloc's nascent common defence policy.

Senior officials from the trio met in Berlin on Wednesday to discuss the military planning office ahead of the two-day Naples meeting, including how it would cooperate with NATO, the Financial Times said.

The constitution proposes three new areas for the EU to build its military policy -- through "structured cooperation", "mutual defence" and "autonomy" for planning operations separate to NATO.

But Britain has sought to ease US concerns about the plans by saying an EU planning arm will never rival NATO, insisting the alliance forms the bedrock of Europe's defence.