Europe should open security talks with Moscow: French official

(WARSAW) - Europe should accept a Russian offer to open talks on European security, a senior French official said Friday in Warsaw, a day after the United States ditched plans for a missile shield in central Europe.

"President (Dmitry) Medvedev has made an overture for us to discuss common European security. So good, he is extending his hand to us -- Let's accept it and talk with them," France's Secretary of State for European Affairs Pierre Lellouche told AFP.

In June 2008, Medvedev proposed a "regional pact" on European security and a European summit on the topic.

In June this year, Moscow proposed a 2010 summit bringing together leaders from NATO, the EU and the former Soviet republics.

NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Friday that the alliance will respond to Medvedev's ideas on a new Euro-Atlantic security arrangement.

Medvedev's comments came after US President Barack Obama abandoned plans by the previous administration of George W. Bush to install a missile shield in Poland and associated radar base in the Czech Republic, to counter a perceived missile menace from Iran.

Despite Russia's welcome, the decision has sparked concern among commentators in Poland and the Czech Republic.