World Bank President Robert Zoellick has called on the European Union to take a leading role in efforts to strengthen global support for the struggling economies of Central and Eastern Europe, in order to avoid a new division of Europe, 20 years after the fall of communist regimes.
In an interview published on Thursday in the London financial daily The Financial Times, Zoellick stated that the World Bank is trying, in collaboration with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other multilateral institutions, to assist the region, emphasizing that it needs greater support from Brussels."It is essential to gain the support of European governments," he said. "It would be a tragedy to allow a new division 20 years after the reunification of Europe in 1989." Zoellick made his remarks in the media after Austria, the country most exposed in the Eastern European region, along with Hungary and some other Eastern European countries, called for international engagement across the entire Eastern European region.
Hungarian leader Ferenc Gyurcsany has called on the governments of Central and Eastern Europe to jointly support the Austrian proposal for the EU to create a package to assist banks in Eastern Europe. However, EU Commissioner for Monetary Policy Joaquin Almunia stated that the European Commission believes it would not be appropriate to create a solution for the entire region as the countries fall into different categories, with some being EU members and others not. Eastern European leaders, on the other hand, support Zoellick’s initiative for increased EU engagement. "It would be good for EU authorities to better coordinate their approach on this issue," said Lithuanian Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius to the FT.
