Berlin - German troops are to be based on French soil for the first time since World War II, a government spokesman confirmed Wednesday.

Details of how many troops are involved and where they will be stationed still have to be worked out, government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said.

The troops form part of a 5,400-strong Franco-German brigade whose continued existence was called into doubt recently when French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced plans to reduce the size of the French army.

The news magazine Der Spiegel reported that 500 German troops would be based in the southern French town of Colmar, close to the German border.

Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are likely to discuss the issue when they meet over the weekend at an international security conference in the German city of Munich.

The Franco-German Brigade was set up in 1989 by then French president Francois Mitterrand and German chancellor Helmut Kohl to increase military cooperation between the two former enemies.

The troops are based in the towns of Muellheim, Immendingen and Donaueschingen in the southwest of Germany.

German troops occupied much of France during World War II. (dpa)