Belgium stands firm over EU military HQ plans.

Belgium insisted Tuesday it is going ahead with plans to open a new autonomous European military command headquarters near Brussels next year, despite opposition from key EU states including Britain.

Belgium, France, Germany and Luxembourg -- the EU states most fiercely opposed to the Iraq war -- proposed the idea shortly after the conflict, following a mini-summit in Brussels at the end of April.

The plan for a new headquarters at Tervuren, just outside the Belgian capital, was immediately lambasted by leaders from more US- friendly EU states who said it would double-up with NATO.

Diplomats from countries opposed to the move have said they hoped the idea would be quietly forgotten.

But Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said Tuesday it is still firmly on the agenda.

"The most controversial point... remains that of Europe's capacity to plan and execute European operations autonomously. That is the European military command headquarters," he told a meeting of Belgian ambassadors.

"It is for me an absolute necessity given the existence of autonomous European operations" such as that deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the last few months, he said.

"The European Union must be up to planning and deploying such operations. Such an ability will be put in place next year in Tervuren. There cannot be the slightest doubt on this matter," he added.

According to a report in The Times of London last month, Britain has responded to the four-country initiative by proposing the creation of a European "planning cell" based in the NATO military headquarters in Mons, Belgium, to avoid undermining the alliance.

Verhofstadt welcomed that proposal. "I find the British proposal excellent," he said, but insisted that it could not end the need for an autonomous headquarters.

"This cell seems to me to be perfectly suited to serve as a liaison body with the European military command headquarters. But it cannot represent an alternative to the autonomous headquarters," he said.

He added that the four-nation initiative was "completely complementary to NATO," adding that that the new headquarters would be "open to all (EU) member states and future member states."