EU Maps Out Defense Plan

COLOGNE, Germany —  The European Union decided Thursday to build a common defense structure to deal with future crises such as the war in Yugoslavia.

Leaders of the 15 member nations, meeting here at a regular half-yearly summit, approved a plan to create a common foreign and security policy over the next 18 months. The policy will enable the EU to order and run humanitarian and peacemaking missions, using a European chain of command in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, when the United States chooses not to take part.

“It was necessary to give a political answer to this crisis and to show that Europe is prepared and resolved . . . to carry out an active crisis management policy,” Germany’s Deputy Foreign Minister Guenter Verheugen said. “We are not setting up an EU army, but we want the ability to resolve conflicts in Europe.”

Officials said France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain would transform their joint Euro Corps into a rapid-reaction force that could be used by the EU and the Western alliance.

The 60,000-strong Euro Corps, set up in 1994, was designed as a tank and infantry force for a European land war.