Britain is
backing a French plan to create a European military intervention force as a way
to maintain strong defence ties with the EU after Brexit, a minister told AFP
on Saturday.
The British
junior defence minister Frederick Curzon said London was "very keen to
support" French President Emmanuel Macron's plan for a force that could be
deployed rapidly to deal with crises.
The force,
known as the European Intervention Initiative, would be separate from other EU
defence cooperation, meaning there would be no obstacle to Britain taking part
after it leaves the bloc.
"We're
very keen to support President Macron in this initiative," Curzon told AFP
as he arrived for a meeting of EU defence ministers in Sofia.
"We
look forward to sitting down with our French colleagues to work through the
ideas that they have formulated for a more efficient and joined up security and
defence system across Europe. We think it has a real part to play."
Twenty-five
EU countries signed a major defence pact in December, agreeing to cooperate on
various military projects, but it is not clear whether Britain would be allowed
to take part in any of these after it leaves the bloc.
London has
always resisted moves to create anything resembling an "EU army" but
it has also stressed it wants to continue to have close security ties with the
EU after Brexit.
Curzon said
the intervention initiative could play an important role in this.
"It
certainly will help to achieve what we are looking for, which is a deep and
special partnership with our European colleagues in defence and security,"
he said.
The EU this
week announced plans to spend nearly 20 billion euros on defence in its budget
for 2021-2027, most of which will go on research and developing new military
technologies for the bloc.
But
December's defence cooperation agreement, known by the acronym PESCO, did not
go far enough for France because it did not include plans for an intervention
force.
French
Defence Minister Florence Parly told the Munich security conference in February
that the planned force would be able to "respond to a threat in the EU's
immediate neighbourhood, particularly the south".
Parly held
talks with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on the sidelines of
Saturday's meeting to explain the plan, which has reportedly attracted interest
from nine countries including Italy, Spain, Germany, Denmark and Estonia.
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