By Paul Taylor
BRUSSELS, May 26 (Reuters) - Poland and Sweden proposed on
Monday that the European Union build an Eastern Partnership to
help former Soviet republics prepare for eventual membership by
cooperating more closely with the EU and with each other.
A joint proposal submitted to EU foreign ministers did not
mention the membership prospect, opposed by some west European
states, but said: "An offer of more profound integration with
the EU should be extended to all eastern partners."
It also called for "a permanent formula for multilateral
cooperation" with ministerial and parliamentary meetings.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the long-term
aim was to help Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia
and Belarus prepare themselves to join the EU, once western
Europe has overcome its current bout of "enlargement fatigue".
Those states are already linked to Brussels through the
European Neighbourhood Policy, which offers individual countries
better trade access, economic assitance and visa liberalisation
as they adapt to EU standards.
Sikorsi, speaking at the European Policy Centre think-tank,
compared the new initiative with creation of the Visegrad Group
for cooperation in central Europe formed in the early 1990s by
Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.
"You create a trademark of good behaviour, of working among
yourselves. Thereby countries self-select themselves for
membership of the EU," he said.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the region was
strategically crucial for Europe.
"We do think it is time to look to the east and see what we
cna do to strengthen democracy, increase the European
perspective and improve cooperation," he told reporters before a
meeting to present the plan to EU counterparts.
"European perspective" is the term frequently used to refer
to a country's long-term chances of winning EU membership.
Several ministers said the project was necessary to balance
the EU's relations with its neighbours at a time when it is
about to launch, at France's initiative, a Union for the
Mediterranean to bolster its southern dimension.
"NO SIN"
"We need to balance. This year is Mediterranean year, next
year is the year of the east," said Czech Deputy Prime Minister
Alexandr Vondra, whose country will hold the EU's rotating chair
in the first half of 2009.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, backing the idea,
told reporters: "It's no sin to go to the south and the east at
the same time."
The new initiative would not involve Russia, the biggest
eastern neighbour, with which the EU agreed on Monday to launch
long-stalled negotiations for a strategic partnership agreement.
Sikorski made clear that unlike most Mediterranean states,
the EU's eastern partners were mostly entitled to apply to join.
"To the south, we have neighbours of Europe. To the east, we
have European neighbours -- countries such as Belarus, Ukraine
and Moldova whose entire territory lies in Europe. By the
provisions of the Treaty of Rome, all have the right to one day
fulfil the criteria and perhaps become members," he said.
The EU discouraged Ukraine from applying for candidate
status after the 2005 Orange Revolution. Reflecting feelings in
western Europe, EU External Relations Commissioner Benita
Ferrero-Waldner urged Kiev's new democratic leaders not to ask a
question to which they might not like the answer.
Sikorski said the EU should offer better "carrots" for the
authoritarian government of Belarus to change its behaviour on
human rights and political freedom while at the same time
helping dissidents and supporting independent media.
(additional reporting by Mark John; Writing by Paul Taylor;
Editing by Richard Balmforth)
