(Adds quote from EU commissioner)
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. EU
External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner broadly
welcomed the step but noted the time was "not ripe" to advance
the membership hopes of a country such as Ukraine.
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 (ENP), which offers countries
better trade access, economic assistance and visa liberalisation
as they adapt to EU standards.
Sikorski 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 told Brussels think-tank.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the region was
strategically crucial for Europe.
"It is time to look to the east and see what we can 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."
Ferrero-Waldner, who is responsible for the ENP in the
European Commission, said the EU executive was generally
supportive of any regional cooperation initiative.
"I am not against it at all," she told a news briefing.
"However, it's essential that new initiatives build upon,
complement and add value to existing frameworks."
She stressed too that while the European Commission had
taken note of Ukraine's membership aspirations, the time was
"not ripe to go a step further".
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.
(additional reporting by Mark John and David Brunnstrom;
Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Matthew Jones)
