EU defence ministers, at informal talks in Deauville, northern France, had made "a lot of progress" on filling key shortfalls undermining the bloc's military ambitions, said Morin.

The gaps include a lack of transport aircraft and helicopters, and the means to better protect troops deployed in hotspots, as well as the ability to gather intelligence, including by satellite.

"On all these subjects -- which we have talked about for years but have done nothing -- we are finally going to be able to do something," he told reporters.

"All this is concrete and proves that Europe is being built" in military terms, he said.

France, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, is expected in April to announce its intent to return fully into the NATO military alliance, but it has made the move conditional on Europe's defence capacities being strengthened.

France was a founder member of NATO, but then president Charles de Gaulle pulled out of the alliance's integrated military command in 1966.

The split developed over many years, as successive French governments became increasingly dissatisfied with what they perceived as Anglo-American domination of the command structure and insufficient French influence.

France now wants to ensure that Europe can stand alone if it must.

"We want to take part in the renovation of NATO as soon as European defences are given new impetus," Morin said.

"Europe has to take its security into its own hands," he said, but added: "We will check the ledger when the time comes, that is, in December" when France's EU presidency ends.

The EU aims, by 2018, to be able to deploy some 60,000 troops with air and naval support within 60 days, and for the mission to remain in operation for a year, although EU officials concede this bar may be set too high.

The talks in Deauville, over two days, could ultimately prove a litmus test of the 27 EU nations' willingness to live up to their lofty security ambitions.

Drawing on EU and NATO equipment and personnel, the bloc wants to be able to run two large security and reconstruction missions -- like the one in Bosnia -- for at least two years, as well as two smaller rapid reaction operations.

It also aims to deploy humanitarian and surveillance missions, as well as almost a dozen police operations, some of them for a number of years.

But to achieve these goals, a number of critical shortfalls must be met.

Military experts have defined them as the capacity to transport forces into a theatre of conflict, mainly by air, deploy them once they have arrived, protect them and acquire intelligence.

Morin said several countries, notably France, Britain and Luxembourg, had committed to a "trust fund" for helicopters; a much sought-after asset in combat zones world-wide.

Resources were also pledged for aircraft carriers and other naval needs.

During their talks, the ministers agreed to wind down the EU's Althea peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, and hand over to a civilian or military rapid reaction team based outside the Balkans state.

"We are gradually headed toward the idea of ending the Althea mission and transforming it," Morin said. "There is no question of Europe leaving immediately, which would be a bad sign."

But he added: "We can't say to our people that we have to have these missions but that we don't know how to finish them."

Althea, launched in 2004, numbers around 2,200 troops and is charged with military tasks under a peace deal that ended the 1992-1995 war, and officers insist it has essentially finished its job.

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