EU defence ministers said the long-heralded forces -- 13 of which will be up and running by 2007 -- were a major step for Europe's ambitions to match its economic and growing political strength with military muscle.

"The European Union has entered a new stage in the process of strengthening military capabilities for crisis management," said the EU presidency in a statement at a meeting of EU defence ministers in Brussels.

British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon, whose country has long griped that small EU states do not pull their weight in military action, said: "This is a very major step in improving its military capabilities," added

"In the past perhaps too many countries have relied on a few countries... the agreement today allows everyone to get involved," he said.

The 1,500-strong tactical groups, which will put flesh on long-standing EU plans to have an independent military capacity, will be able to be deployed within 15 days and remain on the ground for up to four months.

One unit will be up and running by next year, while all of them should be operational by 2007. France, Italy, Spain and Britain have each agreed to form one battle group, and all other EU states have agreed to contribute to at least one group, said Dutch Defence Minister Henk Kamp.

EU officials are coy in forecasting where the forces might be deployed. But one source said that the EU's then-unprecedented Artemis mission, deployed to quell violence in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the summer of 2003, could be taken as a model.

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who was put in charge of drawing up a new security strategy following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, welcomed Monday's accord.

He noted that some details still remained to be hammered out, including how decisions using the new groups would be taken -- and warned that such arrangements should not be allowed to slow down the battle groups' deployment.

"We have to ... keep in mind the essential quality of these battle groups: quick deployment and military efficiency. We must not allow these two factors to be called into question. That would negate the basic reason for this ambitious project," he said.

EU military chiefs were quick to stress that the battle groups would be used for operations outside the framework of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), such as missions in support of the United Nations.

"The European Union is showing that it is prepared to use its political influence to ensure that its forces have the right kind of military muscle," said Britain's Hoon.

But he underlined: "That will complement the efforts being made in NATO" which would always have first choice to launch a military operation to tackle any given situation.

"The agreement today will allow the EU to play a part should NATO decide that it chooses not to be engaged," he said.

French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said the battle groups were essential given the multiplication of crises around the world.

"We are entering a phase of very great instability and if we want to help to avoid this general destablization of the world, we have to be ready to send troops to stop crises," she said.

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