Britain rejected plans yesterday for a permanent European Union military headquarters, putting it at odds with its ally France amid stalled efforts to launch a common EU defence policy.
"The United Kingdom will not agree to such a permanent OHQ (operational headquarters)," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said after meeting with EU counterparts in Brussels.
"We will not agree to it now. We will not agree to it in the future. That is a red line for us," he said after London applied its veto power against the proposal under EU rules.
Voicing London's traditional attachment to the transatlantic alliance with the United States, Britain's chief diplomat said an EU military headquarters would be costly and create wasteful duplication with NATO.
The creation of a permanent HQ was part of a report presented to the ministers by EU foreign and security policy chief Catherine Ashton in a bid to breath new life into EU defence policy.
But Hague said he was "unable to welcome" the report because of the headquarters plan. The ministers failed to issue any statement on defence policy at the end of their talks.
London's intransigence puts it at odds with France even though the two nations signed a historic military cooperation pact last November and are leading the NATO air war against Moamer Kadhafi's regime in Libya.
Source : The Daily Star
