The French-led gendarmerie plans, set to win a green light from EU defence ministers meeting Thursday and Friday, come as a new report urges Europe to rethink its entire security strategy to focus on terrorist and other threats.

The European Union's Dutch presidency is also pressing EU member states over the perennial problem of shortages of military capabilities, a key issue as the bloc prepares to take on its biggest-ever military mission in Bosnia.

"We must not only talk the talk, we must walk the walk," said Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp as his EU counterparts arrived in the Dutch coastal resort of Noordwijk.

Under the military police initiative, backed initially by five EU countries, a 900-strong force with headquarters in Italy is expected to be set up by next year, to be deployed anywhere in the world within 30 days of a decision.

"There's no geographical limitation. If the EU decides it would be good to send it to Africa or Asia, it could be done," said a Dutch EU presidency diplomat.

Five countries which already have gendarme-type police -- France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands -- are set to join the force, aimed notably at helping managing post-crisis situations.

Paris says Germany, Poland and Belgium are interested in the plans -- which would not be a standing force, rather pulling an operation together when a crisis blows up -- although they do not currently have the right forces.

The EU ministers are also set to update plans for so-called battle groups -- 1,500-strong forces deployable within 15 days to deal with "the whole spectrum" of situations, through peacekeeping right up to full-blown military conflict.

Both ideas come as a new EU-commissioned report said Europe should take an entirely different approach to security in light of the new threats facing it, notably from terrorists.

The report, presented to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana this week, proposes the creation of a new, 15,000-strong force comprising both soldiers and civilian experts, which could be deployed both in Europe and beyond.

Its authors want the EU to give a tighter focus to its European Security Strategy, a landmark document drawn up in the wake of the September 11 attacks. The Strategy, adopted by EU leaders last year defined five key global threats, including terrorism, failed states, weapons of mass destruction and organized crime.

But the new 30-page report, entitled A Human Security Doctrine for Europe and providing food for thought at a meeting of EU defence ministers in the Netherlands, urges the EU to focus more on protecting individuals.

"Missions should be aimed at protecting individuals through law-enforcement with the occasional use of force, rather than at defeating enemies or just separating warring parties," the authors said.

But the meeting above all will focus on capabilities. Goals which the EU set itself for 2003 were missed, and it is still trying to catch up on those even as it moves towards the next set of targets in 2010.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, asked what his main aim of the meeting was, told reporters: "To continue the important work on building and improving Europe's military capabilities."

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