Political Criteria 2. Economic Criteria 3. Ability to Assume the Obligations of Membership 4. However, the adoption of the Language law, which restricts access of non-Estonian speakers in political and economic life constitutes a step backwards and should be amended. In the meantime, the Commission will closely monitor the implementation of the law to see what impact it will have in practice.
Attention needs to be paid to the fight against corruption.
Estonia is a functioning market economy where market forces play their full role. It should be able to cope with competitive pressure and market forces within the Union in the medium term, provided it completes the remaining key structural reforms. Macroeconomic stabilisation has improved. The previous large external imbalances have been curbed and the increase in the external debt has been halted. While the budget deficit increased sharply, corrective measures have been taken to reduce it.