US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said today he was confident the European Union would adopt defence arrangements that would not compete with or duplicate the US-led NATO alliance.
Mr Rumsfeld, who has warned against any independent EU defence planning headquarters, told a news conference after talks with NATO defence ministers: "I'm confident and hopeful that things will sort through in a way that we end up with an arrangement that is not duplicative or competitive."
He noted that transatlantic consultations were going on at the level of leaders, foreign ministers and defence ministers ahead of the planned adopting of an EU constitution next week.