The European Union's foreign policy and security chief, Mr Javier Solana, said yesterday a nascent EU rapid reaction force was now viewed with favour by the US.
At the meeting of EU defence ministers in Ecouen, France, he was asked if Washington now took a favourable view of the force, rather than seeing it as a challenger to NATO supremacy. He replied that officials from NATO and the EU had recently met "and there was very good understanding on both sides".