Brussels, 11/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - As anticipated, France, the United Kingdom and Germany on Tuesday presented an initiative to the Political and Security Committee of the EU (COPS) on European "joint tactical groups", able to be mobilised within 15 days and be deployed on the ground for a month (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.4). British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced this Franco-British initiative last weekend at the Munich conference on security policy, and Germany joined the initiative (Mr Hoon stated that the idea was to deploy "packages" of forces able to act rapidly as per Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, before handing over to UN peace-keeping troops or to the countries in question). The proposal, which stemmed from the EU's peace-keeping experiences in Artemis, deployed under French command in the Democratic Republic of Congo in summer 2003, will be formally approved at the joint meeting of Foreign and Defence Ministers of the EU, in Brussels on 17 and 18 May.