Miliband calls for bigger EU military

BRUGES, Belgium, Nov. 16 (UPI) -- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, in a speech at the College of Europe, said the European Union needs to increase its independent military force.

Miliband, in his address Thursday, agreed with French President Nicholas Sarkozy on the need to improve the EU's military capacity, the EU Observer reported. French Defense Minister Herve Morin said in an interview this week that France will make military matters a top priority during its EU presidency.

Miliband disagreed with Sarkozy on changing the union's institutions. An early draft of his speech reportedly called for an "EU military capabilities charter," but that was reportedly dropped on orders from Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

"It's frankly embarrassing that when European nations -- with almost 2 million men and women under arms -- are only able, at a stretch, to deploy around 100,000 at any one time," Miliband said.

He said only 35 of the organization's 1,200 available transport helicopters are deployed in Afghanistan.