Briefs

OECD application

Lithuania has applied for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Foreign Ministry said last week.

"The government believes that membership in the OECD would be important to Lithuania both in economic and political terms and would give Lithuania a possibility to use the OECD's potential," the ministry said in a statement.

The OECD was established in 1961 to facilitate coordination of policy in many areas and to assist policymakers by researching economic and social change. It currently groups 30 of the world's most developed countries and membership requires the provision of high-quality and wide-ranging statistics. (Agence France-Presse)

Free treatment

City authorities in Tallinn announced plans to give free methadone treatment to intravenous drug addicts in an attempt to stem the possible spread of HIV and cut down on drug abuse.

The program, which will start in October, will cost 500,000 kroons (32,000 euros). Authorities say they already know of at least 1,000 Tallinners in need of such treatment.

Methadone substitution treatment will be administered to addicts over 18 who have already been diagnosed by specialists. HIV-positive addicts will also be eligible for treatment.

Methadone is administered orally, cutting out the need for syringes. (Baltic News Service)

Farm flexibility

The European Union's top enlargement official said the EU would have to be flexible on agricultural issues during talks with candidate countries.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Salzburg Sept. 16, Guenter Verheugen said new EU members should not have to pay more than they receive as soon as they join the bloc.

The three Baltic states and other EU candidates have said that EU initial plans to extend to their farmers a quarter of the aid enjoyed by farmers in member states is unacceptable. (BNS)

Paulauskas to run

Parliament Speaker Arturas Paulauskas announced Sept. 15 he planned to run for president against incumbent Valdas Adamkus, setting up a rematch of the 1997-98 presidential election.

Paulauskas, leader of the center-left New Union, narrowly lost in the runoff in 1998 to Adamkus, who is seeking his second five-year term in office.

The first round of the election will be held Dec. 22.

At a party meeting in Palanga, Paulauskas said the New Union would continue to work should he win the presidency.

"My victory will not be the party's loss in any respect," he said.

Lithuania's constitution requires the president to sever any ties to political parties.

In a recent public opinion poll, Adamkus had 26.8 percent support among voters. Paulauskas was backed by 10.4 percent. (BNS).

Voters bored

More than half of Latvian voters said they were bored by the election campaigns of parties running for seats in the Oct. 5 parliamentary polls.

According to an August poll conducted by the SKDS polling center, 18.7 percent of respondents said they fully disagreed with the statement, "It is interesting to follow the campaigns of the different parties," while 34.7 percent said they "rather disagreed" with the statement.

Only 9 percent of respondents said they were interested in the campaigns. (BNS)

Kabul-bound?

The ruling Social Democrats said they would support a project to dispatch a group of Lithuanian soldiers to Afghanistan to take part in anti-terrorist operations.

A draft proposal would send 40 Lithuanian special forces to the country to work alongside U.S. and other troops.

"A year ago, we offered assistance to the United States. Now is the time to take the following step and confirm that we are trustworthy partners," said Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius. (BNS)

Euroskeptic road show

One of Estonia's most outspoken euroskeptics continued his criticism of Brussels at an international conference in Ireland, where he compared the European Union to the Soviet Union.

Speaking at a debate in Dublin organized by the European People's Forum, Uno Silberg, an economics professor at Tartu University, said "the laws of both unions have supremacy over the constitutions of member countries" and called the EU "a common body of citizens with red passports, common money and a common foreign policy and economic space."

Though Estonia is commonly referred to as one of the best-prepared EU candidates and hopes to join by 2004, euroskeptisicm has remained strong, usually hovering at or slightly above 40 percent.

Many have said they fear an erosion of rights for small states in a union dominated by the biggest economies.(BNS)