Georgia conflict should make EU look east-Sweden's Bildt

BERLIN, Aug 31 (Reuters) - The European Union should speed up plans for a partnership with former Soviet republics following Russia's military intervention in Georgia, Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said on Sunday.

In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, Bildt said such an "Eastern Partnership" would be an appropriate response to the conflict over Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region.

"I hope the initiative for an Eastern Partnership will gain new momentum now after the tragic events of recent weeks," Bildt told the newspaper to be published on Monday. The idea was proposed jointly by Poland and Sweden earlier this year.

"We should discuss the possibility of a summit for such an Eastern Partnership that would correspond to the Mediterranean Union summit in Paris," he added, referring to a July meeting of leaders from 43 European, North African and Middle East nations.

In May, Poland and Sweden proposed that the EU build an Eastern Partnership to help former Soviet republics prepare for eventual membership by cooperating more closely with the EU -- and with each other.

European leaders backed the idea at a summit in June, but left the details to be worked out by March, 2009.

European Union leaders will meet in Brussels on Monday to discuss the bloc's response to Russia's military intervention and its decision to recognise Georgia's separatist regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states. (Writing by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Philippa Fletcher)