Brussels, 17/06/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Council on Thursday and Friday should insist that the EU planning cell for military and civilian operations to be up and running by the end of the year at the latest. The European Council of December 2003 decided to set up this cell to cover EU operations carried out without recourse to NATO means. Within this cell, an "operational centre" will be temporarily active to conduct a specific EU operation (EUROPE of 7 April, p.4). In its conclusions, based on a report by Javier Solana, High Representative of the European Union for CFSP, the European Council should also insist for this operation centre to be able to be active as of 1 January 2006 at the latest, if necessary, and capable of carrying out operations along the lines of the Artemis mission of the EU in the Democratic Republic of Congo (composed of some 2,000 troops and deployed in under two weeks: Ed). The Heads of State and Government of the EU should also stress the need to create the permanent cell of the European Union at SHAPE, the NATO headquarters in Mons, and ensure the permanent presence of NATO liaison officers within the European headquarters (both of which measures were also decided by the European Council of December 2003), at the same time as the cell is set up, thus no later than the end of 2004. The European Council should also recommend the installation of the EU planning cell, and the changes to set up the operation centre in the Cortenberg building in Brussels.