Exasperated by the cumbersome nature of EU defence structures and the image of EU military inaction on Bosnia and Kosovo, the British government is considering a plan for the abolition of the Western European Union, diplomatic sources have confirmed.
If approved by its EU partners, the significant reappraisal by the British of their European defence strategy is likely to involve Ireland and the EU in a far closer relationship with NATO.
Foreign Office sources have confirmed that Downing Street is looking at the streamlining of the cumbersome defence provisions being established by the as-yet-unratified Amsterdam Treaty.
Under these the EU effectively subcontracts military operations - confined to peacekeeping and humanitarian operations - to the WEU, which, in turn, will borrow resources from NATO to carry them out.
The proposals being considered by the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, would wind up the WEU, the organisation of NATO's European members, which has often been criticised in the past as unwieldy and ineffective.
The political work done by the organisation would be subsumed into the European Union as a so-called "fourth pillar", while the military role would be taken over by NATO. The structure would allow neutral states like Ireland to opt into "fourth pillar" activities as they saw fit, but would establish a formal link between the EU and NATO. Ireland is currently an observer at the WEU but has no relationship to NATO.
A Downing Street spokesman said yesterday that news reports of the proposals "were far ahead of reality". But he emphasised that any review would retain Britain's emphasis on NATO as the central pillar of European defence.
During the Amsterdam negotiations Britain had resisted the idea of incorporating the WEU into the EU, fearing it would create an alternative pole of defence in Europe to NATO, undermining the transatlantic relationship. Abolishing the WEU might be an elegant way of bridging the gap with its EU allies, who have insisted on the need for a genuinely European defence dimension.
Meanwhile, the current Austrian presidency of the EU has caused some diplomatic embarrassment, not least to Ireland, by seeking to convene the first meeting of EU defence ministers.
The Austrian Defence Minister, Mr Werner Fasslabend, has invited colleagues to attend a meeting in Vienna on November 3rd and 4th to discuss the defence implications of the Amsterdam Treaty.
Austrian officials insist that the meeting is effectively just an informal seminar and outside the institutional framework of the EU, but the move has raised eyebrows in several capitals.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said an invitation had been received, and emphasised that the meeting would be informal and outside the institutions of the EU.
The Minister for Defence would consider his position after seeking further information.
The other neutral members, Sweden and Denmark, have agreed to attend although a spokesman for the former warned it should not be seen as a precedent.