Brussels, 27/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The three Association Councils held on Tuesday, at the level of foreign ministers, between the EU and the three Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) confirmed the considerable progress made by these three countries in bringing their legislation into line with that of the EU, with a view to their EU membership. The Fifteen, however, also recognised that much work has still to be done in the implementation of Community acquis and, above all, the setting in place of administrative and regulatory structures able to manage and control the application of Community legislation. This is a problem common to all three Baltic States (and to all Central and Eastern European candidate countries). It is also why rapid reform of the administrative and legal structures is required if candidates hope to maintain their aim of accession in the near future, commented the EU. Estonia (which began negotiations in March 1998) has set itself a "target date" for accession to the EU, 2003, while Latvia and Lithuania, who have been negotiating since last year only, hope to be ready in 2004.
Despite its problems of an administrative kind, Estonia (which is the most advanced of the three Baltic States with 16 chapters closed out of 31) is very clearly on the right road towards rapid accession, commented Council President Anna Lindh. Enlargement Commissioner Günter Verheugen felt that Estonia is "very close" to fulfilling the accession criteria and that it has "bright perspectives". Hendrik Toomas Ilves, Estonian Foreign Minister, for his part, restated the intention of his government to do what is necessary in order to speed up negotiations. He also appealed to the Fifteen to present, before the end of the Swedish Presidency, clear and substantial positions on the chapters foreseen on the Commission's "road map". "It is really high time that the EU began to answer our demands regarding transitional periods" and present its own requirements, said Mr Ilves.
The example of Latvia and Lithuania shows that the principle of "catching-up" does work, Ms Lindh and Mr Verheugen were pleased to note. These two countries have indeed, over the past year, caught up part of their delay compared to the countries of the Luxemburg group, which had begun negotiations in 1998, two years before them. In particular, Latvia has successfully pursued its non-citizen integration policy, mainly the strong Russian-speaking minority, in the Latvian society. The EU will strictly monitor that measures (integration programme, law on the use of languages and the protection of linguistic rights, etc.) are effectively applied, affirms the communique adopted by the Association Council. Furthermore, the economic and structural reforms have given Latvia macro-economic stability, even though the Latvian authorities are invited to keep their current account deficit under strict control and to continue with budgetary austerity. Lithuania has for its part also reached remarkable macro-economic stability and reform. The privatisation of the banking and energy sectors have also made good progress, noted the Fifteen. The adoption of acquis communautaire has also moved forward but still more progress is needed in fields such as taxation policy, agriculture, regional policy and financial control.
Regarding the EU/Baltic States Europe Agreements, the Association Councils stressed that no major problem or bilateral trade divergence have been noted.
The Baltic States have finally been encouraged to intensify their regional cooperation, including through the EU's northern dimension. The debate on the northern dimension will continue on 9 April in Luxembourg with the foreign ministers of the countries concerned.