VOA常速英语:EU Defense Ministers Agree to Phase Out Peacekeeping Mission in Bosnia

European Union Defense ministers have wrapped up a two-day meeting in France focused on beefing up the bloc's defense capabilities and looking at EU missions in Bosnia, Chad and elsewhere. For VOA, Lisa Bryant has more on the talks from Paris.

EU ministers meeting in the northern French city of Deauville agreed to phase out their peacekeeping presence in Bosnia, although they did not set a deadline to do so.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin called the four-year-old peacekeeping operation a success. The 2,000-member mission has been involved in military tasks in accordance with a deal ending Bosnia's 1992-1995 war.  

Morin said several options were now on the table, including phasing out the operation and turning the tasks over to civilians and Bosnian soldiers.

Eight EU countries also volunteered to create a maritime security force to fight piracy that has been rampant off the coast of Somalia. In perhaps their most audacious act, Somali pirates have boarded a Ukrainian ship carrying arms. The maritime initiative still needs approval - probably during another EU defense meeting in Brussels next month.

Morin also said the EU ministers had made strides on ways to improve Europe's military capabilities in cooperating more closely. Among other ideas, they are pushing a plan to allow officers to study in military schools across the 27-member block.