HELSINKI (Reuters) - East European countries vying to join the European Union must take action to end discrimination of their Gypsy minorities, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said on Wednesday. "A look at the living conditions of the 12 million Roma (Gypsies) living on our continent reveals a disturbingly common pattern across Eastern and Central Europe," Lipponen said in the text of a speech to a meeting of European parliamentarians. "It is up to the governments to take the issue seriously and stop the discrimination of Roma," he said. Finland holds the rotating EU presidency, and the issue of EU enlargement is set to figure prominently at the EU summit in Helsinki in December. Lipponen said Gypsies were discriminated in education, housing, health care and employment in Eastern Europe and that official neglect was compounded by popular prejudice. Discussions between representatives of Europe‘s Gypsies and governments should be on the agenda of the additional summit of EU leaders in Finland in October, he said. The EU is conducting formal membership talks with the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia are also vying for entry. Finland is among the top advocates of the expansion, but it has also warned some of the aspirants that their human rights record must improve. The issue came up again just as Finland took over the six-month presidency in July, as hundreds of Gypsies poured into Helsinki complaining of poor living conditions and discrimination in Slovakia. Finland imposed visas for Slovak nationals on July 6 after accepting Slovakia‘s assurances it was working to improve living conditions of its Gypsy population and that they were economic rather than political refugees.