Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2000-10-03-Speech-2-130"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20001003.4.2-130"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, Commissioner, my report on Lithuania’s application to join the European Union closes with the following sentence: It is still too early to establish a position on when and with whom Lithuania should accede, but efforts should be aimed at making possible a broad first enlargement wave in which Lithuania is included. Lithuania applied to join the Union on 8 December 1995. Accession negotiations commenced in February 2000. Lithuania’s target date for accession is 1 January 2004.
The assessment of the political criteria for meeting accession requirements is – I hope all will agree – without question unreservedly positive. This month, on 8 October, Lithuania will be holding parliamentary elections. Whatever the outcome of these elections, we may safely assume that the main parties will lend their unwavering support to Lithuania’s accession to the European Union.
Lithuania is on its way to joining the World Trade Organisation. Before I go on, a quick update: negotiations between Lithuania and the WTO were successfully concluded yesterday, meaning that Lithuania expects to join shortly following ratification. Today the Lithuanian economy is on the mend. There was negative fallout from the Russian economic crisis in 1998, due to the high level of trade with Russia, and the gross domestic product was still falling in 1998 and 1999. The macro-economic situation is now stabilising. Lithuania has considerable potential for long-term economic growth. The International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of 2.1% in the gross domestic product this year. There is a good chance of this, but particular efforts are still needed.
Policy still needs to concentrate on creating the right conditions for innovation and modernisation in key sectors of the economy. The fact that the Lithuanian currency is still pegged to the dollar is also important here, because as the dollar rises, so too does the value of the litas against the euro. As a result, revenue from exports from Lithuania to the euro zone is down and, similarly, producers are of course facing stiffer competition on the domestic market from exporters in the euro zone. There are plans to peg the litas to the euro in the second half of 2001. As I said, despite a number of shortcomings and weaknesses, Lithuania has made good progress in the economic area and is only a short way away from a working market economic.
As far as the Ignalina nuclear power station is concerned, there is no doubt that the two Chernobyl-type reactors need to be decommissioned. Lithuania voted an energy strategy through parliament at the end of 1999 and, in May of this year, the Seimas passed a law to decommission unit 1 in 2004. A decision on the decommissioning of unit 2 will then be taken in 2004. I am most grateful to Commissioner Verheugen for clarifying the question of the closure of nuclear power plants. It is an important point here too.
Now to Kaliningrad. This issue requires a special effort and, in my view, cannot be dealt with purely as a problem on the fringe of the issue of the accession of Lithuania and Poland. In the widest sense, what is at stake here is cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation. The point at issue is whether Kaliningrad should be enclosed and cut off or included in the development prospects for the region. The multi-faceted problems and the dangers inherent in the social and economic crisis in the region will not be averted, let alone solved, by isolating it. Our motto in this case must be: stabilisation through cooperation. That is the only way of giving Kaliningrad a chance to improve its development potential.
Lithuania is playing a positive role here. Lithuania and Russia recently presented proposals for joint projects in various areas under the NIDA initiative. The EU is being asked to adopt them in the Northern Dimension action plan. Ways of fostering good neighbourly relations need to be found in the interest of the region as a whole. And also in the interests of cooperation between the European Union and the Russian Federation."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples