Prodi says Ukraine, Russia should not join EU

Former Soviet republics such as Ukraine have no place in an enlarged European Union and Russia is just too big to join, European Commission President Romano Prodi said in an interview published yesterday.

Ten mostly ex-communist countries are due to wrap up accession talks with the EU next month and to join in May, 2004. They include Poland, which has a long border with Ukraine and Belarus, and the three Baltic republics which share borders with Russia.

"It is important that we now ask ourselves what will happen after this big expansion. Where does Europe end? The Balkan countries will join, they belong. Turkey is officially a candidate, that is clear. But Morocco or Ukraine or Moldova? I see no reason for that," Prodi told Dutch daily De Volkskrant.

"We need to talk about our criteria. The fact Ukrainians or Armenians feel European means nothing to me. Because New Zealanders feel European too," he added.

Prodi said Russian President Vladimir Putin had asked him on a recent visit to Brussels about potential Russian membership of the Union.

"I told him straight away clearly: no, you are too big," Prodi said.

Russia has not said publicly it would like to join the wealthy bloc, though the 15-nation EU is already its largest trade partner - a fact to be reinforced by eastern enlargement.

Prodi told Reuters this month that his long-term vision was for an enlarged European Union surrounded by a "ring of friends" from Russia to Morocco, with which it would share everything except membership.