Understand The Times, International

In a document released on Tuesday after a meeting between 11 foreign ministers in Warsaw, the bloc, which includes all the largest European countries outside Britain, charted a vision for the "future of Europe".

As well as calling for a single, elected head of state for Europe, the bloc demanded a new defence policy, under the control of a new pan-EU foreign ministry commanded by Baroness Ashton, which "could eventually involve a European army".

In order to "prevent one single member state from being able to obstruct initiatives", a reference to British opposition to a European army, the German-led grouping demanded an end to existing national vetoes over foreign and defence policy. This would give the EU the power to impose a decision on Britain if it is supported by a majority of other countries. The plan, which has the backing of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Holland, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg and Portugal the plan, is likely to fuel calls for a British referendum on membership of the European Union.

The document also proposed sweeping new powers for the European Parliament and further splitting of the EU by creating a new parliamentary sub chamber for the 17 countries of the eurozone.

In a joint statement, Guido Westerwelle and Radek Sikorski, the foreign ministers of Germany and Poland, called for the creation of a single EU President, running the commission and overseeing regular summits, who is directly elected by voters in a pan-European vote "on the same day in all member states".

"For Europe to be a truly strong actor and global leader it needs a strong institutional setup," said Mr Westerwelle and Mr Sikorski. "It needs a directly elected president who personally appoints the members of his "European government'."

In another major change, the 11 countries urged that changes to European treaties should in future be adopted and implemented "by a super-qualified majority of the EU member states" instead of by unanimity, meaning treaties can no longer be blocked from entering into force by No votes in popular referendums.

September 18 - Europe's most powerful countries call for elected EU president