France is plotting to create a Euro Army

France is pushing for a new dedicated military headquarters and more fighting formations.

The French take over the EU presidency next month and will use their six-month term to drive forward ambitious plans to develop Europe's own military structures - a move which critics claim will undermine Nato by excluding the U.S.

Gordon Brown was forced to make a hurried denial, playing down the prospects of a Euro Army, as the fiercely divisive issue returned to the political agenda.

Critics in the UK are deeply suspicious of strengthening the EU's military identity - fearing that the French see it as a way to challenge Washington's world dominance.

Federalists, however, see a Euro Army as a key building-block of a future super-state.

French soldiers operate in Serbia, as part of a NATO peacekeeping force. There have been new calls for an EU army to respond to crises in Europe.

As MEPs debated EU military policy yesterday, the chairman of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee called for the Union to develop more 'hard power' military capability and spend more money on a European Army.

Jacek Saryusz-Wolski called for 'a common foreign and security policy, including a European army'.

He said MEPs should in future have the final say on military missions under the EU flag - a move which would strip member states of a fundamental responsibility.

France, which along with Germany and Poland has spearheaded support for greater EU defence capability, has already indicated that the issue will feature heavily in its presidency, starting next month.

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The French are expected to call on member countries to boost defence spending and commit more helicopters and aircraft.

The proposals, to be unveiled by President Nicolas Sarkozy, will urge the creation of more of the rapid reaction formations - each consisting of 1,500 troops from member countries - which take turns to be on stand-by for EU peacekeeping or humanitarian missions abroad, wearing the Eurocorps badge.

Enthusiasts for these 'EU Battle Groups' see them as the most likely basis for a future European Army. There are currently 15, including one all-British formation, but the French are expected to push for a dramatic increase.

Opponents in Brussels responded by attacking current joint EU military efforts as 'impoverished and amateurish'.

Andrew Duff, a Liberal Democrat MEP and member of the European Council on Foreign relations, said many member states' armies were archaic and hamstrung by 'miserly' military budgets, so talk of ' burden-sharing' was often meaningless. He said recent research showed only a fifth of the two million troops across EU countries were in a fit state to be deployed abroad.

Critics believe an EU Army would be crippled by deep divisions among allies and the failure of member states to match U.S. levels of defence spending.

The U.S. spends around 4 per cent of its GDP on defence, compared with under 3 per cent in Britain and France and even less in some EU states. There are also fears that moves towards an EU army would undermine Nato and weaken Washington's links with Europe on defence and security.

Tory defence spokesman Liam Fox said: 'The idea of a standing European military force under EU command or the creation of an EU defence budget is wishful but dangerous thinking.'

He added: 'This is another example of the EU getting involved in an area in which it has no business'.

Downing Street sought to defuse the row. Mr Brown's spokesman said: 'The Prime Minister's view is that there will not be a European Army. It is important to remember that the European Parliament has no role in policy in this area.'