EP report cites old, new concerns

RIGA - The last European Parliament report on the 10 accession countries, a 50-page overview of the main areas of concern involving enlargement, was issued last week.

For the most part the report, a copy of which was shown to The Baltic Times before it was released to the public, contains no surprises - with the exception of one for Latvia - and it is expected that the Europarliament will accept the report at its plenary session on March 11 without reservations.
Still, the document provides a provocative look at all accession states, as it highlights problem-areas such as corruption, human rights and, in the case of the Baltics, relations with Russia.
Predictably, the document, which is divided up into one section for each acceding country, cites the large noncitizen populations of Estonia and Latvia as areas of concern.
"The governmental program for integration of minorities in Estonian society is bringing positive results," the report states, although it goes on to explain that the number of stateless persons -
around 165,000 according to the Estonian Citizenship and Migration Board- "is still a matter that requires further efforts and encouragement from the Estonian authorities, as well as increased interest and motivation on the part of the stateless persons."

In the section on Latvia, the report criticizes conditions at the country's illegal immigration center in Olaine, ensuring that it will remain on the agenda for future EU delegations to Latvia.
Recommendation were made to Latvia and Lithuania to continue the fight against corruption, something that the report termed as "widespread" in the Baltic states.
The movement of people across the new EU boarders, with respect to the Kaliningrad exclave and eastern Russia, also represented an area of concern for the EMPs who were responsible for drafting the reports for the Baltics states.
On the other hand, the forthcoming closure of the Soviet-era nuclear reactor in Ignalina, financed in part by the EU, was one area the rapporteur for Lithuania cited as an encouraging development.
Another upbeat element in the Baltic section of the report was inclusion of the three countries' unique opportunity to develop better relations with new EU neighbors when the bloc officially expands in May. Belarus, Ukraine, and Moldova along with several central Asian countries were cited as examples.
The writers of the report specifically said they expected Estonia "to play an important role in supporting EU policies in the framework of the Wider Europe - Neighbourhood strategy" and that the bloc would "benefit from Estonia's understanding and experience in relations with Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus."
This section of the document added that such experience would help to avoid divisions in Europe after enlargement.
In terms of infrastructure development, the report supports the creation of Rail Baltica, a Pan-Baltic rail line to be built between the three countries.
The report wasn't without a surprise. In the section on Latvia, Europarliament condemns the attempted recall of Martijans Bekasovs, an observer from the Latvian Socialist Party who last year circulated an e-mail critical of Latvia's minority policy. The Latvian Parliament attempted to call back the observer only to find that it did not have the authority to do so. The episode sparked outrage in Strasbourg among some parliamentarians who saw the issue as one of free speech.
The condemnation was not included in rapporteur Elisabeth Schroedter's original report on Latvia.
Finally, the report offers considerable commentary on the issue of relations with Russia.
Estonia and Latvia, for instance, have yet to sign border agreements with Russia in advance of accession to both the EU and NATO, and no breakthrough in the near future is expected due to Russia's insistence that the EU get involved in the issue of minority rights in the two countries.
The report notes that "relations between Latvia, Estonia and Russia, in spite of many positive changes, are still marked by tensions," and it calls for the necessity of a border treaty, "which is an essential element of normalized relations."
According to the authors of the document, border treaties have not yet been signed due to Russia.
Furthermore, the report acknowledges that increasing difficulty in EU-Russian relations but insists that cooperation continue in the framework of the existing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement.
Russia wants to conclude a separate PCA addendum with each acceding country individually, while the EU is insisting that the existing document automatically cover the new members, as it did in 1995 when three countries joined the EU.
Europarliament "confirms that the EU-Russia Partnership and Cooperation Agreement has to apply without distinction to all member states, including the new member states joining the European Union... expects that the required technical adaptations will be applied in time," states the report.
But Russia's stance, even if not taken seriously in Brussels and Strasbourg, has caused deep concern in Estonia and Latvia, with some claiming Russia is trying to influence the Baltics' internal affairs.
Although nonbinding, the European Parliament report will cast the first impression for many politicians and bureaucrats in Europe, and the areas of concern mentioned in this vital report will continue to be revisited by EMPs in the future.