"It is very important that members of the EU meet from time to time. We were however disappointed by the outcome of this particular meeting," Hoon said during a visit to the Czech Republic.

"The United Kingdom believes it is important that decisions on European defence and security are taken together in consensus, not only with the existing 15 members of the EU but also with those countries who are about to join," he said.

Hoon said Britain believed it was necessary to improve Europe's military capability and not to duplicate existing facilities already provided by NATO.

For his part Czech Defence Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik agreed that in the field of European defence existing structures should not be doubled up and called for more cooperation within NATO.

"Obviously we support the development of European military capabilities," he added.

The call by the four EU countries at their meeting on Tuesday for measures to increase the EU's self-reliance in defence matters received a cool reception from many key EU countries -- including Britain -- and from the United States.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday that Britain was one of the majority of 11 European Union nations that did not believe EU defense should be separate from NATO.

SPACE.WIRE