The European Commission on Monday urged the bloc to boost ties with eastern neighbours vital for future energy supplies and held out to them the prospect of trade pacts and increased economic assistance, Reuters reported. The EU executive called for billions of euros in loans and investment to help members of its European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) improve energy and other infrastructure and for steps to make it easier for their citizens to get visas to visit the EU. In a policy paper, the EU executive also urged greater EU efforts to help resolve "frozen conflicts" left over from the Cold War in former Soviet states bordering Russia, and a stronger diplomatic presence in the EU's neighbours. "We cannot buy reforms in these countries. What we can do is support them," EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who wrote the paper, told a news briefing. "The potential cost of not supporting reform on our borders would be very great," she warned.
