Baltics right on track to join EU

RIGA - Along with seven other candidate countries, the three Baltic states are on course to complete the requirements for European Union membership by the end of 2002 and to join the EU by 2004.

The European Commission said in their annual report, released Nov. 13 in Strasbourg, that all countries had made strides toward meeting the accession demands, but it also singled out specific areas for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to improve.

Latvia and Lithuania need to take a harder stance against corruption, while Estonia was told to look at ways to address problems involving its large Russian-speaking minority.

The commission told the European Parliament in Strasbourg that all three Baltic countries have developed to the point where they should be able to handle competitive pressure and market forces in the EU bloc if current reforms continue.

Bulgaria and Rumania are not expected to be part of the enlargement round in 2004, while Turkey has also been turned down for formal accession talks because of human rights concerns.

Malta and Cyprus were singled out as being ahead of the pack, although both countries already had free markets and fewer reforms to complete.

Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia are the other candidates set to join the EU.

"It is likely all 10 will join at the same time," said Gunter Weiss, head of the European Commission delegation to Latvia.

The candidate countries need to wrap up membership talks during 2002 in order to be full members for the next European Parliament elections in 2004.

All candidate countries - including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were also given specific areas that need improvement if talks are to be completed by the end of next year.

Lithuania and Latvia were both told corruption continues to be a hindrance, as are procedures for supervising EU structural funds. Most candidate countries will continue to depend on these funds once they have joined the bloc and will have to administer them themselves.

"Having the Latvian Finance Ministry entrusted with structural funds is good, but it isn't excellent," Weiss said.

Latvia and Estonia were both told that integrating their large Russian minorities - many of whom do not speak their countries' state language - was a priority.

Latvia, with a more widely dispersed Russian minority, has made more progress toward integration, the commission found, but naturalization and Latvian-language education programs need to be expanded.

Estonia, where most ethnic Russians are concentrated in the northeastern part of the country, must improve language training and social integration measures, and combat unemployment.

"We are pleased the commission has acknowledged the development that has taken place in Estonia over the years," Estonian Foreign Minister Toomas Hendrik Ilves said. "In some respects the commission has also criticized us, but we comprehend the problems mentioned in the report and are constantly working on their elimination."

The Ignalina nuclear power plant, which generates 75 percent of Lithuania's electricity, is also the subject of close scrutiny by the European Commission.

EU officials want Ignalina's two reactors shut down by 2009. But the Lithuanian government maintains a later date is more realistic because shutting the plant down is so expensive and complex.

The first reactor is due to be closed in 2005.

The EU wants the plant closed because the design of the Soviet-era reactors, the same design used at Chernobyl, is considered flawed by nuclear engineers.

Pretrial detention practices in Latvia - where untried people can spend years in jail awaiting trial - also drew the attention of the European Commission, which told the country to continue reforming its system.

"You have to ask to what extent pretrial detention is necessary," Weiss said, suggesting that a system where the accused are released before trial, like in the European Union and the United States, may be better. "This risk assessment has to be made."

But while all three Baltic countries were given high marks by the commission for meeting the requirements for entry, all were told that making the changes was a priority.

"By the accession date the candidate countries have a responsibility to implement commission legislation and be doing the job of a member state," Weiss said. "The problem, as I've often underlined, is in the sector of implementation."