Not a sore loser, Chirac congratulated Blair on England's Rugby World Cup victory over the weekend. The English team beat France in the semi-finals, and the French president complimented the winners on their extraordinary talent. "This deserved victory is also a victory for Europe," Chirac wrote, referring to the cup's first arrival in the northern hemisphere.

Such praise might have helped to soften Blair on the French proposal for a European military planning center that could act independently of NATO.

"It makes to me complete sense, in circumstances where NATO is not engaged, for Europe to have the capability and the power to act in the interests of Europe and the wider world," Blair said at a press conference after the meeting. "NATO will remain the cornerstone of our defense."

American President George W. Bush, who left London on Friday after a three-day state visit, opposes plans for a separate EU military planning unit, saying it would undermine the work of the North Atlantic alliance.

British still uneasy about French plans

Back in September, Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder had tried to win over Blair at a trilateral summit in Berlin without much success.

The British prime minister agreed that the European Union should be able to plan military operations without NATO involvement. But "we don't agree to anything that will hollow out NATO," Blair's spokesperson said after the meeting. A month later, the French leader announced that the European defense system should be expanded in "structured cooperation with our British friends."

Chirac's idea is to set up headquarters for EU troops operating independently of NATO's central office in Mons, Belgium. The reasoning is that France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium want to be able to command EU military operations in situations where NATO as a whole does not want to enter a conflict.

Following their meeting, Chirac tried to calm fears about the proposed planning center as a rival force to NATO. "Neither the Germans nor the French wish to take any kind of initiative which contradicts NATO, which... is at the heart of our defense system," he said.

NATO General Secretary George Robertson has called the plan an unnecessary doubling. Nicholas Burns, U.S. ambassador to NATO, has warned that such a move would create complications and strife.

Topics included Iraq, terrorism, Middle East

Other topics of discussion during the one-day meeting included the fight against terrorism, the Middle East peace process and the situation in Iraq. Almost six months after the war there officially ended, relations between Britain and France are still rocky.

Early in the year, Blair and Chirac postponed their last summit because of different viewpoints on how to deal with Saddam Hussein. The British considered France responsible for blocking a U.N. resolution authorizing a war against Iraq.

After Monday's meeting, Chirac once again criticized the way the U.S. dealt with Iraq. Proposals to speed up the transfer of power to the Iraqis are "positive, but insufficient and incomplete," the French president said. "It seems to me to be set to take place over too long a period."

Royal visit part of healing process

While the two countries have long enjoyed cordial relations and will celebrate the centennial of the "entente cordiale" next spring, they seem to have hit a rough patch.

"Great Britain and France are like an old couple," Dennis MacShane, the British minister for European affairs, told German public television. "Sometimes they want to kill each other, but they'd never dream of getting a divorce."

On Monday, the two men announced that next year's entente anniversary celebrations would show the strength of relations between the two countries.

Also, Queen Elizabeth II is scheduled to visit France during the 60th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, Blair announced.

Blair to meet Aznar as well

After talks with Chirac, Blair is expected to welcome Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar for a brief meeting. Iraq is unlikely to cause problems between the two men, since Aznar emerged as Britain's strongest European ally during the war. Spain has stationed 1,250 troops in Iraq.

Blair and Aznar, however, are expected to discuss the touchy issue of Gibraltar. Residents of the British colony on the southern tip of Spain have been resisting plans for Britain and Spain to share sovereignty over the territory.