EU shouldn't lose focus on ex-Soviet bloc: Latvian PM

(WARSAW) - Amid the Arab Spring, the EU should not lose focus on spurring reform and building ties with ex-Soviet states, Latvian Prime Minister Valdis Dombrovskis said Thursday.

"There are certainly other issues, challenges and new expectations in other regions, in North Africa and the Arab world, but we should also keep our engagement with the Eastern Partnership countries," Dombrovskis told AFP in an interview in Warsaw ahead of an EU summit in the Polish capital.

"We need to do both, to balance both our political involvement and financial support to different regions," he said.

On Thursday and Friday, Warsaw is hosting a summit of the partnership, launched in 2009 with the aim of boosting the 27-nation EU's political and economic ties with ex-Soviet Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Like summit host Poland, Latvia was part of the EU's 2004 "big-bang" expansion from 15 members. Both are staunch supporters of membership for other ex-communist countries.

Despite concerns over human rights in Belarus and deep differences with Ukraine, the summit is expected to announce the launch of association talks with Georgia and Moldova -- a first step to membership.

Ex-Yugoslav republic Croatia is the next member due on board, in 2013.

But some Western nations are far from keen about launching a new wave of expansion in the near future, as Europe struggles to repair its economy, and "enlargement fatigue" has become a buzzword.

Dombrovskis said that despite step-by-step moves to bring new countries into the bloc, it was unfair to would-be members to fudge the issue of their eventual membership.

"It's important to engage on practical terms, on free trade agreements, on visa liberalisation, on assistance and cooperation projects, on the rule of law," he said.

"But should this process be successful, over a certain period of time one could think about European integration, but currently I don't think there's a quick solution," he added.

Dombrovskis pointed to the case of Turkey, whose membership moves have dragged on for decades.

"They were granted candidate status in 1999, and then 10 years later we started having a debate about whether Turkey belongs in Europe at all. So of course Turkey questions whether they are being given a realistic prospect of EU integration," he said.

"If you give a perspective of EU integration, it has to be realistic. And it should end with EU membership, not with other options as are currently being discussed in the case of Turkey," he insisted.

"If certain EU countries are not ready for this, maybe it's good to say so and not to give this false perspective," he added.