Paris, 02/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The French President, Jacques Chirac and Tony Blair have jointly responded to the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, who had written to them to ask that the Europe of Defence be relaunched (see EUROPE 24 July p 5 and 1 August p 2). According to the Le Figaro, in this joint and quite general letter (whereas Mr Verhofstadt had provided exact suggestions, such as a mutual assistance clause to insert into the Treaty or the creation of a European Headquarters), Messrs Chirac and Blair declared that they were "determined to progress with these issues", and insist that "greater effort" is mad to increase military spending and integrate European defence industries. France and the United Kingdom stress that the CFSP must be adapted to face up to the challenges following 11 September, taking the priorities, such as the fight against the proliferation of arms of mass destruction into account and the war on terrorism.