EU: Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia would be well advised not to apply for European Union membership now, because they would be rebuffed, the EU's external relations commissioner has said.
Some of the 10 new member states which joined the bloc last year, notably Poland, have argued that the EU has a moral obligation to embrace Ukraine, which tilted westward after a peaceful "orange revolution" last year.
But Benita Ferrero-Waldner said in an interview that other aspirants would be wise not to ask to be made candidates until they were sure they would get the answer they wanted.
"The orange revolution has been a revolution where people have shown that they share our values.
"But now we have to get down to earth. Look at their economy: there are so many things that have to be changed.
"It's a huge country, an important country, but they have to change the country and they know it very well."
She said the same applied to Georgia and Moldova, which like Ukraine have said they want to join the EU and have been encouraged by the fact that eight former communist countries joined last May.
The eight, which underwent years of painful reform before joining, are now prospering in the now 25-strong bloc.
Romania and Bulgaria are next in line, Turkey and Croatia hope to start talks this year and the countries of the western Balkans are also waiting in the wings.
The aspirations of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova present the already-stretched EU with a major headache.
The cure, Ms Ferrero-Waldner said, is a delicate balancing act, offering some of the benefits of membership without the prospect of an eventual invitation to join.
"We want to make them friends. We want to bring them closer to the European Union by giving them a stake in our policies," she said.
The bloc has drawn up a policy for its southern and eastern neighbours, from Morocco to Ukraine, and worked out separate plans with each.
"What we want is a ring of friends with common values, where we know we want to promote our values but they also have an interest.
"It's going away from dreaming about horizons [ of membership] to coming to a very practical relationship."
The EU is using its experience from last May's enlargement to develop the neighbourhood policy, Ms Ferrero-Waldner said.
"We use quite a lot of instruments which we had with the enlargement process. We offer exactly those instruments to the others. But they have to use them," she said.
Central to the policy is that neighbours should tell the EU in which areas they want Brussels to help them reform. - (Reuters)