Latvian MEP Kalniete calls on Latvia to work hard to get into core of EU

RIGA - In the coming years new European architecture will be developed and Latvia will have to work hard to get into the core of the EU during this process, said Latvian MEP Sandra Kalniete (Unity) in an interview with the Latvian public television on Monday.

Another Latvian MEP Roberts Zile (National Alliance), meanwhile, said in an interview with commercial LNT television that Latvia’s chances to get into the core of the EU are unlikely as our country just cannot afford to pay for it.

Kalniete is sure that a multi-speed Europe is inevitable, and there will be a tough fight for getting into its core. Latvian politicians should be aware that the coming years are as important as those years before Latvia joined the EU.

"We must be in the core," said Kalniete, adding that the core will form around several "poles", one of them is the euro, while others might be cooperation in security and defense.

According to Kalniete, changes in Europe will bring along several unpleasant decisions, but Latvia will have to cope with them. For example, there are signs showing that money from the EU funds will decrease. Decisions can be expected on harmonization of taxes, social policies. Kalniete underscored that these will be complicated processes and tough negotiations, and decisions will come slowly.

She said that Latvia during these processes will have a little say in decisions will be made by the countries who pay the bulk into the EU budget. Still, the geopolitical processes in the world suggest that Latvia should not stay aside and alone.

MEP Zile underscored that Latvia would not favor from multi-speed Europe, therefore he hopes that the Latvian prime minister and foreign minister will find allies in order to stop these processes.

Speaking about eurozone as one of the "poles" of the future core of the EU, Zile explained that there is a problem that Latvia’s neighbors in the Baltic Sea region – Denmark, Sweden, Poland – are not and will not join the eurozone, therefore there will be no cooperation in this sense.

Speaking about EU funds, Zile said that Latvia should not put up with possible reductions because Latvia’s GDP level is way behind the rest of Europe, therefore Latvia should insist on what has been written in the agreements, meaning that the funds have been meant for balancing the development level. Giving in would be an incorrect and dangerous policy, said Zile.

In his words, European Commission President Jean-Claude Junker sees just the six foundation countries as the EU core, and Latvia will not be able to join it "because we are just not able to pay for that". Zile also said that the earlier experience demonstrates that multi-speed Europe is just not functioning because decisions made in a narrow range of countries cannot be put into life.