29/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - During the UMP Convention on Europe, last Friday, the French foreign affairs minister, Philippe Douste-Blazy gave his support to an “avant-garde” in Europe to pursue the “objective of a political Europe”. Mr Douste-Blazy explained that to “continue further integration, we need to allow an avant-garde to go further”. He added that “if we want to pursue the objective of a political Europe we should allow this avant-garde to constitute what others have called a Federation of Nation States”. He outlined that “this project should be the subject of a specific treaty, more demanding and more explicit”. He asserted that this would mean: deeper economic and monetary union through better coordination of economic policies; united defence; common action in foreign policy; the creation of a security area for citizens and a common policy for research and innovation. Mr Douste-Blazy concluded that “it is essential that States that want to can move forward together faster, while remaining open to other members, which will join them later”. (EUROPE 9035 on the subject of Nicolas Sarkozy's idea on a “Groups of Six” as the power house of Europe).