¡¡  PARIS, July 8 (Xinhuanet) -- French-German ties "are not sufficient" within the enlarged 25-member European Union (EU) and should be "open", French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier declared Thursday.

    The French-German ties are always necessary but they are not sufficient because there are 25 members in the European Union, Barnier told French Diplomatic Press Association.

    The ties "should be open: it is my state of mind and I think the same for Joschka Fischer (German Foreign Minister)," Barnier said, noting the importance of Britain in the field of defense, aswell as Spain and Poland.

    French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy declared on June 23 in a statement published in French Daily Les Echos and British Financial Times that the French-German dialogue "should not be exclusive".

    "To be 25 (members) is very different from the European community of 6 or 9. In reality, there are today in Europe six countries - France, Germany, Britain, Spain, Italy and Poland - which have and will have the same problems to settle," he said. Enditem