A force without the UK would be unthinkable, says Italy

Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said any attempts by France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg to forge closer military ties would be viewed "with a very critical eye".

Belgium announced in March that it was calling the summit to discuss boosting defence co-operation between the participants.

If the embyro of an increased military co-operation were to develop in Brussels, I would regard it with a very critical eye Franco Frattini Italian Foreign Minister

The four countries were all in the anti-war camp in the EU dispute over Iraq but they insist that their meeting is not supposed to be anti-American.

But the apparent exclusion of the EU's pro-war nations - including the biggest military power, the UK - prompted accusations that the move would only deepen the union's divisions on the issue.

Reports say France and Germany are now attempting to back-pedal on the original proposals - including a European defence force run from a military command centre in Belgium - fearing further damage to their relationships with the US.

The two countries were now only "reluctant supporters" of the summit, said the UK's Financial Times newspaper on Monday, and would seek to water down proposals for the independent European force.

We won't accept, and neither will the rest of Europe, anything that either undermines Nato or conflicts with the basic principles of European defence we've set out Tony Blair UK Prime Minister

"The timing could not have been more unfortunate. The French and the Germans want as low a profile as possible. The less we talk about it the better," one EU diplomat said, quoted by Reuters news agency.

Hopes that Europe was ready to move towards a common defence and foreign policy have been left in tatters by the Iraq war, which polarised the EU into pro- and anti-war camps.

Neither the EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, nor the current EU president, Greece, is attending the summit, being held in Brussels on Tuesday.

And UK Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted on Monday to play down the summit's significance.

"We won't accept, and neither will the rest of Europe, anything that either undermines Nato or conflicts with the basic principles of European defence we've set out," he said at his monthly live news conference.

Italian anger

Mr Frattini's comments to a German newspaper on Monday highlighted the depth of opposition to the idea of a breakaway defence force involving only a handful of EU members.

The Iraq crisis has perhaps played the role of a catalyst, in the sense that it has once again shown that, if Europe is not coherent in defence and foreign policy matters, it will not play a large role Guy Verhofstadt Belgian PM and summit host

The event could give the impression of a "micro-territory" under formation within the EU - signalling a "return to the logic of the recent past", he said, referring to the bitter splits over Iraq.

And any military alliance without the UK would be unimaginable, Mr Frattini said.

Mr Frattini's views are shared by the governments of the UK and Spain, which supported the war in Iraq.

Despite the opposition, supporters of the mini-summit say European defence ties must be boosted, warning that the danger is "in doing nothing," said one diplomat.

Belgian PM Guy Verhofstadt, who called the summit, has insisted that it is not directed against Nato or the US, but says the Iraq crisis underlined the need for a stronger European defence and foreign strategy.

France wants to heal its damaged relationships

The BBC's correspondent in Brussels, Chris Morris, says Mr Verhofstadt argues that Europe has to start somewhere.

"Mr Verhofstadt wants to strengthen European defence because, in his words, Nato consists of the United States and 18 dwarfs," he said.

Mr Verhofstadt is still believed to support the creation of a European military command headquarters at Tervuren outside Brussels, where a 50-strong European defence general staff would run EU defence operations when Nato was not involved.

'Plans dropped'

However, diplomatic sources quoted by Reuters news agency said the idea had been shredded.

Proposals for defence spending targets and common European military units had also been dropped, the diplomats said.

Instead, the four are thought more likely to stick to less contentious ground - with a final communique expected to contain only those ideas which are under discussion by the convention examining Europe's future.

Those include a solidarity clause offering support to fellow nations under terrorist attack, and plans for an EU arms procurement and strategic research agency.

Separate plans for a European rapid reaction force, which would operate under the auspices of Nato military planners, have the support of all 15 EU members.

Planners hope the 60,000-strong force will be fully operational by the end of the year.