"The Greek government will put up a tough fight to guarantee a strong Greek presence in the new structure," he said on public television station Net.

Greece wished particularly to ensure a balance with its neighbour and old rival Turkey, a fellow member of NATO with which it feuded with decades before a recent improvement in ties.

"We don't like to use the word veto. But there are diplomatic means that look like a veto and we will use them if necessary," warned the minister, asked about his government's position at a NATO council session on June 12 and

Papantoniou hinted that his country was seeking to maintain one of the NATO commands.

The projected new NATO military command structure foresees the number of separate commands in Europe being reduced from 26 to 11.

Greece currently hosts two of these allied commands, at Tyrnavos and Larissa.

NATO is undergoing a comprehensive transformation, sealed at a landmark summit in Prague last November, to deal with post-Cold War and post-September 11 security threats.

WAR.WIRE