Crisis must not stop EU from expanding membership: Miliband

(WARSAW) - Britain's foreign secretary made a strong case for an expanded EU, arguing the economic crisis must not impede membership prospects for countries like Turkey, Ukraine or Iceland, in remarks published Monday.

"We must re-energise our relations with our neighbours. Because this crisis has shown very clearly how exposed we are to problems beyond our borders," David Miliband told the centre-left Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

"Whatever the temptations, we cannot afford to turn inwards," he said.

Of Ankara's slow-paced accession process and domestic reforms, Miliband said both "were bringing in benefits".

"The offer of EU membership is also critical to overcoming the nationalism politics and ethnic divisions that have scarred the Western Balkans for so long," he added.

"Beyond these countries, there are others -- Iceland or Ukraine for instance -- for which me must keep open the prospects of membership."

Turkey began accession talks in 2005, but less than a third of the 35 policy areas that candidates must successfully negotiate have been opened, amid a trade row over Cyprus, which it does not recognise, and strong opposition to its full membership from some EU members.

The European Commission, the European Union's executive arm, also proposed reinforcing ties with six former Soviet republics including Ukraine, without promising full adhesion to the 27-member bloc.

Meanwhile, support for opening membership negotiations with Brussels has soared in Iceland, following the collapse of its financial sector that plunged the nation into its deepest recession in history.