For the heads of government at the mini-summit of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg, the conflict only underlined the need for more autonomy from the United States in defence matters.

But the gathering, the brainchild of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, has drawn less than enthusiastic comment from other EU leaders -- notably key European military power Britain.

"The idea of a European defence based on Belgium and without England -- I wonder if that's particularly serious," British Minister for Europe Denis MacShane said last month.

On Tuesday Verhofstadt will meet with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

The four agree that the deep divisions opened up in Europe by the Iraq war underline the need for the EU to put flesh on the bones of its common foreign and security policy (CFSP).

But a notable absentee will be the EU's High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana. He called the meeting "interesting," but will be otherwise engaged.

"We will see what the results will be. In any case, if there are results, they will afterwards be discussed among 15, or 25," he said, referring to the number of current and future EU members.

The meeting has fueled talk of a two-speed EU, at a time when the bloc is struggling to build just the opposite, a Union increasingly united in areas other than purely economic and monetary affairs.

As well as Britain, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands have also made clear their reservations, and were instrumental in ensuring that neither Solana nor the EU's current Greek presidency attend.

Belgium announced plans for the gathering at an EU summit on March 20, the day that war in Iraq broke out.

Despite the difficult background, the four still believe that European defence ties must be boosted, saying the danger is "in doing nothing," said one diplomat.

The mini-summit's agenda is minimal. In fact the meeting proper will last only two hours Tuesday morning, followed by a lunch.

Among key issues will be the creation of an EU armaments agency. The idea is not new: it is being discussed by the body sketching out the EU's future shape, and most EU states back it.

The same cannot be said of another proposal, supported notably by Belgium and France, to create a European military command headquarters.

For more US-friendly countries, first and foremost Britain, the proposal is unacceptable.

"It is the most complicated issue. For the British and NATO the basic fear is of a duplication of SHAPE," NATO's military command centre based in Mons, outside Brussels, said a diplomat.

The mini-summit is also likely to broach the eternal question of funding Europe's efforts to fill the yawning gap between its military muscle and that of the United States.

Concrete commitments appear unlikely at the Brussels meeting, in particular amid the current budget woes of France and Germany.

Above all few participants will have illusions about the impact of the meeting on Europe's wider political agenda.

"It is a meeting of four countries. It is not a European meeting," said one diplomat.

SPACE.WIRE