Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Thursday threw a spanner into the works of a proposal to create a Union for the Mediterranean by linking it to Ukraine's European Union membership aspirations. ( dpa )
Asked what he thought about the 'Club Med' proposal, Tusk said: "We accept this agreement in general, but we also have our own proposal about Ukraine."
Tusk said he hoped other member states would support his vision of giving Ukraine a clear "European perspective."
The premier was speaking on the margins of an EU summit in Brussels at which French and German leaders were due to unveil plans for a new organization linking all of the countries that have borders on the Mediterranean Sea.
The proposal, originally conceived by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has since been watered down and is to be integrated with an existing EU neighbourhood policy known as the Barcelona Process.
It has nevertheless received a lukewarm response from many EU countries that do not border the Mediterranean.
These include the Czech Republic, Latvia and other Eastern European countries, which fear it will distract EU funds away from their region.
Ukraine's leadership has signalled its willingness to eventually join the EU, but membership talks with Brussels have not yet begun.