"The Portuguese government is open to studying these propositions at a meeting with its European partners," he told the Lusa news agency.

He added EU foreign ministers will analyze the proposals during an informal meeting to be held on the Greek island of Rhodes on May 2 and 3.

Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg, all NATO members which opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq, agreed Tuesday at a controversial mini-summit in Brussels on Tuesday to beef up military cooperation to make Europe's defence less reliant on the US.

Their plans include the creation by 2004 of a new European headquarters to command military operations independent of NATO and the acceleration of EU defence cooperation.

Portuguese Defence Minister Paulo Portas meanwhile on Tuesday warned any new European Union military command proposed by four EU member states should complement -- and not duplicate -- existing NATO structures.

"With respect to military capacity, we and the generality of European nations are in favour of complementarity and not duplication of means with NATO," he told the Lusa news agency.

The mini-summit sparked controversy for excluding EU member states which supported the war, including those like Britain which have strong militaries.

Britain, Spain, Italy and other European countries, who supported the war in Iraq, opposed the meeting, fearing it would aggravate the divisions the war opened within NATO and the European Union.

Centre-right Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, also a supporter of the US-led war, reportedly was invited to attend the mini-summit but turned down the invitation.

SPACE.WIRE