(BRUSSELS) - Ukraine, denied NATO candidate status on Thursday, will also have to put its EU aspirations on hold, the European Commission said.

While the European Union's policy includes Ukraine in its "neighbourhood policy", that doesn't necessarily means eventual membership, said EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner.

"For the future, nothing is ruled out and nothing is ruled in, the door is neither open nor closed," she said.

Ukraine's foreign affairs ministry swiftly criticised "the unilateral EU approach" that shows "no regard is taken of the positions of the partner countries".

The European Neighbourhood Policy "is not an alternative to enlargement and does not prejudge future developments in the relations between the EU and its European neighbours," the foreign ministry continued in a statement.

The 27 current EU member states -- including 21 NATO members - are divided on whether the former Soviet republic has a future in the European bloc.

Within the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, countries including France and Germany oppose offering NATO candidacy to Ukraine. Concerns include going against the wishes of Russia, which is not a NATO member and vehemently opposes expansion of the alliance onto former Soviet territory.

However countries of eastern Europe, including Poland, favour offering membership to Kiev, as does Britain.

Leaders at a NATO summit in Bucharest on Thursday refused candidate status to both Ukraine and fellow ex-Soviet republic Georgia, while stressing that both had a future, eventually, in the North Atlantic alliance.

"We will now begin a period of intensive engagement with both at a high political level to address the questions still outstanding," NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said in Bucharest.

Under urging by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko for closer ties, the EU has promised Kiev a reinforced partnership and a free-trade zone.

"There have already been seven rounds of talks and the negotiations are well advanced," said Ferrero-Waldner, without giving a date for their conclusion.

The EU neighbourhood policy includes nations from eastern Europe, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean, including Israel and the Palestinian territories, Syria, Morocco and Egypt as well as Ukraine and Georgia.

Ukraine is one of the biggest beneficiaries of funding linked to the neighbourhood policy, receiving 144 million euros (224 million dollars) last year.

Sandwiched between Poland and Russia, Ukraine is a key transit route for Russian natural gas to the EU.

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