Suchergebnisse

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia attempted to keep up a hegemonic sphere of influence, at least in the geographical territory of the former Soviet Union. For their part, the three Baltic States soon opted for participation in the European political & economic integration process. Increased political & economic stability as well as increased security was expected in the region through EU Membership because political forces in Russia still hoped for a restoration of its hegemony or believed in its ability to block NATO Membership of the Baltic States. The negotiations of the three Baltic States for EU-accession can be described as dynamic, although agreement over some sensitive issues was rather difficult, e.g. Estonia: free movement of persons; Latvia: environmental protection; Lithuania: corruption; & in all three countries: energy. Other problems causing difficulties with neighbouring Russia were the significant Russian minorities in Estonia & Latvia as well as the continuing Estonian & Lithuanian dependency on Russian energy exports. Being a member of the first group of accession candidates Estonia started negotiations two years earlier than the other two states, however, the "late comers" Latvia & Lithuania succeeded in speeding up their efforts, so all three states could join the EU at the same time. Overall, the Baltic States so far have successfully managed a fourfold transformation process, comprising of (1) the regaining of independence from Russia, (2) the shift to liberal democratic polities, (3) the transformation to market economy & (4) the realization of most of the necessary adaptations required for EU Membership thereby showing a considerable ability for pragmatism during the negotiations. In the beginning the populations of the three Baltic States were quite sceptical about transferring their newly won independence to Brussels. However, support for EU Membership increased during the accession talks after 2001 in Latvia & especially Lithuania, while Estonia remained the most distanced country of all applicants. Finally the referenda resulted in a two thirds majority vote in favour of EU Membership, in Lithuania even with over 90%. 10 Diagrams, References.