February 27, 2007 1:38 PM

BRUSSELS, Belgium-European Union nations approved a plan Tuesday to reduce their peacekeeping force in Bosnia by more than a half in response to improved stability in the Balkan country, officials said.

EU foreign ministers agreed in December to reduce the EU force from 6,000 to 2,500. However, they delayed the final decision until this week, largely because of fears that renewed tension in Kosovo could trigger wider unrest in the region.

The force will be gradually reduced to its new level by early June.

EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of a formal announcement, said the cuts could be reversed if the situation deteriorates, but EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday the EU was now "much more relaxed about the security" in Bosnia.

The proposed cuts are part of a plan for an eventual withdrawal of the peacekeeping force and its replacement with a civilian EU mission.

The EU took over in 2004 from a NATO peacekeeping mission in Bosnia, where there had been a total of 60,000 troops immediately after Dayton agreements ended the country's 1992-95 war. NATO currently maintains around 16,000 peacekeepers in Kosovo, where the EU is expected to take on a bigger administrative and policing role after talks on the territory's future.

EU defense ministers are expected to discuss both Balkan missions, as well as plans for an EU police training operation in Afghanistan, during talks Thursday and Friday in the German city of Wiesbaden.

Under the reorganization plan for the EU force in Bosnia, troops would be concentrated in the capital, Sarajevo, but with monitoring posts around the country and a rapid reaction unity able to move nationwide. A reserve based outside the country would be on standby for a quick intervention should the scaled-down force face more serious trouble.

The reduced EU force would continue to operate under a U.N. mandate which was given a yearlong extension by the Security Council in November.