BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- France wants to strengthen EU defense capabilities by pushing closer integration of member states' militaries when it assumes the bloc's presidency next year.
French Defense Minister Herve Morin, in an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, also called for a more muscular presence by Europe on the world stage.
"A kind of European conscience can grow over the question where, if need be, we want to defend our values with weapons," he said, according to the EU Observer newsletter, which published translated portions of the interview Tuesday.
He said Paris would put closer relationships between and some integrated planning by European militaries high on the agenda when it takes its turn as the rotating president of the 27-member EU bloc in the second half of 2008.
Proposals he broached included a Brussels-based EU military planning staff, exchanges between professional soldiers and a harmonization of military education.
Morin called a European defense capability an "absolute priority" and compared it to the importance of the EU's single currency, the euro.
"With the common currency, we have created a strong symbol for Europe. But nothing can better express the European community of fate than common defense, a common sense of Europe's threats and security interests," he said.
"This is why during the (French) presidency of the European Council in the second half of 2008 we would like to press ahead with a Europe of defense."
The EU Observer said the ideas would likely raise concern in London, where new Prime Minister Gordon Brown is reported to be very reluctant to adopt any big new European initiatives ahead of the formal ratification by Britain of the EU's new reform treaty.
Morin said Paris is still "coordinating" with its EU partners what its presidency agenda would mean in practical terms, but said "independent crisis capacities" for Europe would be one key goal.
