Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg support the proposal as part of a drive to give the EU a greater military role. Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, said last week that the headquarters, which would be able “to plan and execute European operations autonomously”, would be in operation next year in Tervuren, east of Brussels.

The plan has horrified Britain and several other Nato members and caused consternation at alliance quarters. There is concern that the “gang of four”, as they have become known, will gradually persuade other countries to join the project — provoking a rift with Washington and leading to an unnecessary and expensive duplication of Nato resources.

“It’s a Trojan horse,” said one Nato diplomat. “If the EU gives it any form of blessing, it becomes a European project and other countries will join.

“The new Tervuren headquarters is the hook on which the French plan to build new autonomous operations. The French are very happy to hide behind the Belgians on this.”

The proposal was first aired at a meeting of the four countries in Brussels in April after the US-led invasion of Iraq. The participants, all fierce critics of Washington’s policy, pledged to strengthen their military co-operation.

The proposal they have developed since then is expected to be discussed by Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, and his European counterparts in Rome on October 3. The EU’s precise military role will also be defined in a draft European constitution, on which talks are due to resume next month.

In a speech to ambassadors in Brussels last week, Verhofstadt described the headquarters as an “absolute necessity”. He added: “It is a matter of operations which have not been put into action by Nato and in which the European Union is not making use of Nato resources. This initiative is completely complementary to Nato.”

Verhofstadt cited as an example the sending of a French-led EU force to northeastern Congo in June to stop fighting between militias that had killed 50,000 people. The force, which included British Royal Engineers with EU insignia on their uniforms, was run from French military headquarters. It handed over to United Nations Bangladeshi troops last week.

France reiterated its support for the EU scheme this weekend but denied it was directed against America. “We have no intention to destroy the transatlantic link or to destroy Nato, ” said one French diplomat.

US officials, still smarting at the anti-American feelings in Europe exposed by the war in Iraq, have denounced the plans for the new headquarters. In comments that drew gasps from journalists at a briefing last week, Richard Boucher, a State Department spokesman, described the April meeting as “a little bitty summit” and referred to the four participants as “the chocolate makers”.

Britain is also suspicious and has proposed alternative plans under which military planners from EU members would be attached to a Nato headquarters in Belgium.

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