"I would be in favour of anything that reinforces European defence in the way that we set it out in St Malo," Blair said

Britain and France, both prominent European Union members, have been coordinating defence policies since a 1998 bilateral agreement at the French town of St Malo.

Blair was being questioned about a summit on defence involving Germany, France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The meeting, planned for April 29, has aroused controversy since it involves only the EU's four most outspoken opponents of the US-led war on Iraq, and excludes Britain.

"The basis that we set it out is obviously fully consistent with and compatible with NATO, that has always been our desire and I am sure that that will be the outcome," Blair said after talks here with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

The United States is known to be opposed to strengthening European Union defences as that would divert funds and focus away from NATO.

The mini-summit has angered officials in Brussels and other EU members as it has revived talk of a "two-tiered" EU at a time when the Old Continent is badly fractured over Iraq.

The EU's Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said on Monday that the four-way defence summit should be turned into a full-blown EU event attended by all 15 member states.

Italy, which takes over the EU's presidency from Greece in July, has also asked that the meeting be open to all EU members.

SPACE.WIRE