NOORDWIJK, The Netherlands (AFP) - Five EU states signed an accord creating a new European military police force deployable to crisis situations worldwide, the latest tool in Europe's developing security arsenal.
The agreement came as EU ministers again came under renewed pressure to do more to boost Europe's military muscle, with Britain's Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon notably urging other countries to boost defence budgets.
Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp called the European Gendarmerie Force (EGF) -- initially involving France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands, but open to others later -- a "milestone" in Europe's developing military muscle.
"I'm certain that this force will become an important capability, bridging the gap between military forces and civil police forces," said Kamp, chairing an informal meeting of EU counterparts.
Under the initiative, a 900-strong force with headquarters in Italy is expected to be set up by next year, to be deployed anywhere in the world within 30 days of a decision.
"There's no geographical limitation. If the EU decides it would be good to send it to Africa or Asia, it could be done," said a Dutch EU presidency official.
The new force "is excellently suited to deployment during or immediately after a military operation for maintaining public order and safety in situations where local police forces are not sufficiently deployable," he said.
Paris says Germany, Poland and Belgium are interested in the plans -- which will not be a standing force, rather pulling police together when a crisis blows up -- although they do not currently have the right kind of forces.
German Defence Minister Peter Struck confirmed that Berlin will not take part, but called the plans "very sensible" and suggested that they could be useful for potential flare-ups in the Balkans.
"For example I could that a mandate in Bosnia could be completely appropriate for such a military-police force," he said. The EU is already preparing for to deploy a 7,000-strong peacekeeping force in Bosnia from December, its biggest-ever such operation.
Meanwhile the EU ministers were also set to update plans for so-called battle groups -- 1,500-strong forces deployable within 15 days to deal with situations ranging form peacekeeping right up to full-blown conflict.
In another step in Europe's military advance, Friday saw the first meeting of the steering board of the European Defence Agency (EDA), launched in July to "oversee the strengthening of European military capabilities."
But for all the vaunted progress, pressure remains for Europe to do more.
In particular minds were focussed by the US announcement that it is to withdraw tens of thousands of Cold War-era forces out of Asia and Europe in the coming years, including 30,000 from Germany alone.
Critics repeatedly warn that if another Balkan conflict were to flare up on anything like the scale of those in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, Europe would be hard pressed to cope without US support or leadership.
Britain's Hoon, whose country is the EU's military heavyweight alongside France, welcomed the gendarmerie initiative, but said other European countries simply need to spend more.
"You can certainly get more capability out of existing money by coordinating your money. But I do think that right across Europe we need to see governments spending more on defence to reflect the enhanced threat that we face," he said.