Prague - Regulators of five Central European EU states warned Wednesday against lumping them all together in the same financial basket.

"Each of the Central European states has its specific economic and financial situation and these countries do not form any unified region," said a statement issued by Czech, Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian and Slovakian authorities.

They objected to recent international financial reports of fears that the new EU members could get into difficulty without help from western EU states.

"Such self-fulfilling speculation ignores basic economic developments," said the statement. There was concern about warnings of "risks for the banks of the old EU member states posed by high burdens in the Central European countries."

Such reports, the statement said, were "often simplistic and erroneous, and could have a negative influence on bank business."

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said that some Austrian banks experiencing problems in some Eastern European countries had created "the false impression of the good West and the bad East."

Last weekend's special Brussels summit saw rejection of a Hungarian proposal for an EU finance package to be elaborated for Central Europe.

Hungary had called for a 190-billion-euro (240-billion- dollar) safety fund, and for a speeding-up of the rules governing entry to the euro group. (dpa)