French Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin on Tuesday launched the government's first proceeding to dissolve small neo-Nazi groups, French Interior Ministry said.

According to a letter sent by Villepin to the leaders of the group Elsass Korps, based in Alsace in east France, the group has 10 days from receipt of the letter to respond, the ministry said.

The interior minister will, within that period, prepare a dissolution decree to be presented to the ministers' meeting laterthis month after having the opinion from the State Council.

"These movements must be dissolved," Villepin said in February,noting that some 3,000 people belong to neo-Nazi groups across France.

"We will keep close watch to make sure that these groups do notform again under false names," the minister said, calling the movements "a threat and a danger, especially when we know their activities are more and more violent"

The minister said neo-Nazi groups were responsible for 65 acts of violence in 2004, compared with 27 in 2003.