Britain should back French calls for more European Union defence co-operation if it does not overstretch the military, new defence minister John Hutton said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper.
Hutton was appointed defence minister on October 3, and has just returned from a trip to Afghanistan - where, he said, it could take years to defeat Taliban insurgents and decades before all Britain's objectives in the country were accomplished.
This timescale fits with previous British statements, but Hutton's conditional support for French calls for EU countries to pool defence resources softens previous British scepticism.
"I think we've got to be pragmatic about these things. I think that's perfectly sensible. France is one of our closest allies, and the French believe very strongly in this type of role. If we can support it, we should," Hutton said.
Splits in the EU over the 2003 invasion of Iraq set back closer military co-operation, but on October 1 France said it had support from a number of countries to pool resources for transport aircraft and to fight piracy off the Somali coast - which Hutton cited as a good example of co-operation.
Opponents to closer EU defence co-operation say that it represents a wasteful and divisive duplication of Nato structures, of which France is not a fully integrated member, and many Britons do not trust the EU with defence.
Hutton condemned such opposition. "I'm not one of those EU haters (who think) anything to do with the EU must be terrible. I think frankly those views are pathetic," he said.