A top UK defence official has been appointed to head up an EU armaments procurement agency, ending a dispute between London and Paris over who should lead the new body.

EU foreign ministers gave the green light for the agency last November in a bid to tackle Europe’s defence shortfalls and add weight to the common security and defence policy.

The Brussels-based agency, which should be up and running in the second half of 2004, will aim to coordinate member states’ arms purchases and evaluate equipment needs.

Both France and Britain were seeking to push their own candidate into the agency’s top job, anxious to shape the direction of the body from its conception.

One UK diplomat referred recently to very different visions of how the agency should progress, arguing that while London wanted to focus on precise defence needs, Paris was more inclined towards "propping up ailing defence industries".

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Wednesday decided that Nick Witney, the director general for International Security Policy at the Ministry of Defence, should lead the team to set up the agency.

Reacting to the news, Witney said "there is a real sense of enthusiasm across the EU for improving European defence capabilities, and the Agency can play a key role as catalyst and coordinator".

Paris had put forward Laurent Giovachinin, director for cooperation and industrial affairs at France’s own national armaments agency.

London’s case appears to have been boosted by its softening towards the creation of an EU military planning cell, agreed by European leaders in December, and by the fact that a French officer will next month become head of the EU’s military staff.

The agency, which is due to be launched in June, will be under the responsibility of the EU's high representative for foreign and security policy who will chair a steering board composed of EU defence ministers.