British Prime Minister David Cameron has quashed the idea the European Union should have its own armed forces, laying down a marker at an EU summit dedicated to boosting defence co-operation.
"It makes sense for nation states to co-operate over matters of defence to keep us all safer ... but it is not right for the EU to have capabilities, armies, air forces and the rest of it," Cameron said on arriving for the two-day meeting.
"We have to get that demarcation correct, between co-operation which is right, but EU capabilities which is wrong," he said as other EU leaders highlighted the need to increase defence co-operation to make stretched budgets go further.
"I am looking forward to the discussion," the prime minister added.
Britain has consistently argued that its military assets must remain strictly under the country's control and favours co-operation through NATO to ensure European security.
However NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who attends the summit's defence session on Thursday, said earlier this week he wanted to see EU leaders commit to do more, citing the pressing need for drones and air-to-air refuelling aircraft.
Defence co-operation tops the agenda at the EU summit, with France and Germany backing the idea strongly and smaller member states largely in favour as a way of getting more for their money.
Britain and France have frequently taken the lead in military action - as in Libya in 2011 - with their EU allies contributing logistical or other aid but not troops on the ground.
