19/02/2009 (Agence Europe) - The president of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick, has called on European countries to act in a coordinated way to support the economies of Central and Eastern Europe, which have been hit hard by the current crisis. In an interview to the Financial Times on 19 February, Zoellick said support from European governments was needed to underpin international aid to the whole region. The idea of such support appears to be gaining ground at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund and also seems to be shared by Austria and Hungary. Expressing concern about a possible collapse on the Ukrainian and Russian markets, the Lithuanian prime minister, Andrius Kubilius, also appealed (in the Financial Times) for greater EU coordinated support to the region. The commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Joaquin Almunia, prefers to take a case-by-case approach and avoid resorting to an identical instrument for countries that do not all have the same relationship with the EU. (A.B./transl.rh)