Prodi: Latvia "must run very fast"

LISBON - Latvia and Lithuania may have been invited to the
negotiating table in December, but they will have to work hard if
they expect to be admitted to the EU at the same time as Estonia and
the other candidate countries who have already begun entry talks with
Brussels.

So said the most powerful man in the EU, the president of the
European Commission, Romano Prodi, following a meeting between all 20
EU commissioners and the government of Portugal, which currently
holds the rotating EU Presidency.

"If it [Latvia] wants to be admitted as soon as Estonia, it has to
run very fast because the Estonians have already had many, many,
months of conversations,"Prodi said at a press conference just
outside Lisbon on Jan. 10. "But nothing forbids that this cannot be
done."

Estonia - along with Poland, Hungary, Slovenia, Cyprus and the Czech
Republic - began negotiating the terms of entry into the EU early
last year.

At the time, Brussels did not feel the remaining nations of the
former Eastern Bloc were ready to start entry talks. But at a
Helsinki summit meeting of current EU member states last month,
Brussels did an about-face and decided it was time to ask the
remaining candidates - Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia
and Malta - to the negotiating table.

Entry talks with this "second wave"of applicants will begin in
Brussels in mid-February.

All the candidates for EU must adopt a complex and, at 80,000 pages,
large, set of legislation known as the acquis communautaire.

This set of rules is divided into 31 chapters, and each candidate
country must demonstrate it has successfully implemented the laws of
each chapter before it can be admitted into the EU.

Candidates may also negotiate a limited number of exemptions from
some of the requirements of each chapter.

Estonia has so far completed negotiations on eight of the 31 chapters
and is preparing to begin talks on the more difficult sections of the
acquis, such as the chapter dealing with environmental regulations.

"We can't say how many chapters we will be able to close this year.
It depends on the proceedings of the negotiations,"said a member of
the Estonian negotiations task force, Hele Karilaid. "No candidate
country can predict how many chapters it can close."

Estonia's Baltic neighbors are doing all they can to catch up.
Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said the country should be able
to close talks on seven chapters this year, almost matching Estonia's
performance during its first year at the negotiating table.

Latvian Prime Minister Andris Skele, who has made EU membership a
priority of his government, has set a much more ambitious goal: He
wants to see Riga close negotiations on 15 chapters this year.

His efforts will be welcomed by EU officials who want to strengthen
the momentum for eastward expansion. Portugal has already said it
intends to open negotiations on as many chapters of the acquis as
possible during its term at the helm of the EU presidency.

"We are obligated to make an honest assessment of each candidate
country and admit the countries as soon as they are ready,"said
Prodi. "There is nothing in writing saying Estonia will be admitted
before Latvia or any other country."