Anti-war EU leaders plan defence summit

Germany, France and Belgium are planning to hold a summit on European defence, to "accelerate" the process of forging a common security policy, French and German leaders said. Other countries are welcome to join the three countries, leaders of the EU camp against war on Iraq (news - web sites), at the proposed defence summit which Belgian leaders have said could be held in April, they said. French President Jacques Chirac confirmed the plans for a defence summit, saying it is likely to be held in "two or three weeks." "We want to try to add a little coherence of Europe's defence policy," he said. The leaders did not explicity invite Britain to join the planned summit. Britain has been starkly at odds with the three countries over the war against Iraq. But said Chirac: "Of course the spirit of St. Malo is not forgotten" -- a reference to a the northern French town where the EU's ambitions for a defence policy were launched at a Franco-British summit in December 1998. One of the aims of such a heads of government meeting would be to discuss "ways of organizing Europe's defence industry properly to make it competitive," said the German leader. France and Germany have already proposed measures to strengthen and improve the coordination of Europe's arms industry, as well as to further integrate armed forces from member states in preparation for an EU rapid reaction force.