BERLIN, Mar. 1 (Xinhua) -- European Union defense ministers planned on Thursday to launch police operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan.

    German Minister of Defense Franz Josef Jung said that ministers from 27 EU nations was discussing the deployment of EU police mission in Kosovo and Afghanistan at their informal meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany.

    The force in Kosovo could be 600 officers with full executive powers to handle possible violence and unrest, German news agency DPA quoted officials as saying. But details of the mission are to be worked out.

    Police trainers and magistrates who will help to improve the rule of law in the territory will be among the mission, the officials said.

    Jung, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said that NATO's 16,000-strong force would remain in Kosovo after an expected United Nations Security Council decision on the territory's final status.

    He said that the reduction of NATO's presence in Kosovo would send a wrong signal as concerns of unrest in the breakaway province are high after the UN resolution.

    Belgrade insists on retaining sovereignty over the territory has rejected the proposal but the plan has been accepted by ethnic Albanians in the province.

    Jung and EU high representative of foreign affairs Javier Solana confirmed that the EU would reduce its troops in Bosnia from 6,500 to 2,500 this year.

    "The security situation in Bosnia is very much better," said Solana, who also attends the meeting.

    On Afghanistan, Jung said that approval of the plan to dispatch six Tornado surveillance aircraft to boost NATO operations in southern Afghanistan was pending next week in the German parliament.

    Besides, the EU was ready to train Afghan policemen to help stabilize the war-torn country, Jung said, adding, "Security and reconstruction go hand in hand in Afghanistan."

    Defense ministers from the 27 EU nations were discussing current security policy issues at the two-day meeting. NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer attended the first working day as the EU ministers are studying plans for stronger partnerships with NATO, the UN and the African Union.