21.  Whether France and Britain are in full accord on the relationship that any future European force should have with the NATO alliance is less clear, however.

22.  A multinational European force is being sent to Albania later this month to secure ports for the delivery of badly needed food and medical supplies.

23.  A multinational European force meant to secure roads and ports for aid delivery started spreading out throughout the country Thursday.

24.  And Britain and France are pressing for a greater European military force within the U.S.-led alliance that could mount operations independently of the Americans.

25.  Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic on Friday rejected deployment of a European force to bolster U.N. peacekeepers, saying the soldiers should not be on or near his territory.

26.  But they added that European military forces would act in conformity with existing alliances, in particular with NATO.

27.  Butler declined to compare the behavior of German police with that of other western European forces.

28.  But while Washington agrees that enhancing European military capability is good for NATO, some Americans fear the European force could weaken U.S. influence on the continent.

29.  Chretien described the proposed European force as similar in concept to the bilateral security arrangement Canada has with the United States.

30.  Critics have suggested an independent European force would undercut NATO and could set in motion the dissolution of the U.S.-led military alliance.