13. Notes that the current ISPA (Transport) priorities disregard fundamental aspects of the country’s
economic development potential,such as its Baltic Sea ports and their links to the hinterland,but thatthe development of the ports as part of a coordinated approach in the context of Baltic Sea cooperation
could be of great importance for Latvia;
14. Stresses with regard to asylum policy that the competence of the Refugees Appeals Council and the
quality of its procedure and decisions must be improved,that access to legal assistance as well as the rightto appeal against detention must be guaranteed and that complementary forms of protection and familyreunification procedures have to be established; calls for a revision of the lists of safe third countries and
safe countries of origin;
15. Calls,also,for improved treatment of persons whose requests for refugee status have been turned
down and for humane treatment of immigrants without the appropriate legal documents; calls on the EUto increase its support to Latvia in this connection in order to clear the way for the country’s participation
in a humane European immigration and asylum policy;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council,the parlia-
ments of the Member States and the Government and Parliament of Latvia.
4. Lithuania
A5-0240/2000
European Parliament resolution on Lithuania’s application for membership of the European Union
and the state of negotiations (COM(1999) 507 /dash C5-0030/2000 /dash 1997/2178(COS))
The European Parliament,
6dash having regard to Lithuania’s application for membership of the European Union,submitted on
8 December 1995,pursuant to Article 49 of the TEU,
6dash having regard to the opinion of the Commission on this application (COM(1997) 2007 6dash C4-0379/
97),
6dash having regard to the 1999 Regular Report on Lithuania’s progress towards accession (COM(1999) 507
6dash C5-0030/2000) and to the 1999 Composite Paper of the Commission (COM(1999) 500 6dashC5-0341/2000),
6dash having regard to the decisions taken by the European Council,notably in Copenhagen (21/22 June
1993),Luxembourg (12/13 December 1997) and Helsinki (10/11 December 1999),
6dash having regard to the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States,
of the one part,and Lithuania of the other part,
6dash having regard to the 1999 Accession Partnership for Lithuania,6dash having regard to its resolution of 3 December 1998 on Lithuania’s application for membership of the
European Union,with a view to the European Council to be held in Vienna on 11/12 December1998 (
1),
6dash having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,6dash having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,Human Rights,Common Security
and Defence Policy (A5-0240/2000),
A. whereas Lithuania has a well-developed democratic system of government and minority rights are well
protected,
B. whereas the reform of the judiciary is well advanced,but stronger measures are required to improve
the performance of the police,improve prison conditions and develop a more comprehensiveapproach to crime prevention,
(1) OJ C 398,21.12.1998,p. 54.22.6.2001 EN C 178/135 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 4 October 2000
C. whereas Lithuania has considerable potential for long-term economic growth and the effective exploi-
tation of this potential necessitates investment in infrastructure as well as in the educational system,
D. whereas the public sector must also respond to the support needs of various population groups,not
least in rural areas and among the elderly,
E. whereas public spending must at the same time be carefully controlled and macro-economic stability
safeguarded,
F. whereas Lithuanian foreign trade is increasingly oriented towards the EU and this stimulates the com-
petitiveness of the Lithuanian economy and facilitates Lithuania’s integration into the Single Market,
G. whereas Lithuania’s trade deficit must be brought down and this presupposes that exports to the EU
can grow through increases both in volume and in the value of the products exported,
H. whereas the deficit in trade with the EU in agricultural products cannot be sustained,I. whereas continued structural change,in particular in the agricultural sector,is vital to economic devel-
opment even if it is associated with an obvious risk of aggravating unemployment problems; whereas
policies therefore must be carefully designed so as to limit such effects and offset them through re-training and comprehensive measures to stimulate the development of new economic activities;whereas pre-accession aid must take full account of this,
J. whereas Lithuania has made remarkable progress in its alignment with the EU acquis ,
K. whereas considerable efforts to increase the efficiency of public administration and to combat corrup-
tion are being made; whereas the results are still insufficient,
L. whereas the reactors in the Ignalina nuclear power plant are of a type that does not make it possible
to achieve a sufficient level of safety and they therefore must be closed down; whereas principles and a
timetable for the decommissioning of the reactors have been agreed between Lithuania,the Nuclear
Safety Account (NSA) as managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and theEU; whereas the Lithuanian Parliament,the Seimas,has adopted a law on the closure of unit 1 at
Ignalina in 2004 and the Lithuanian Energy Strategy states that a decision on the closure of unit 2
will be taken in the same year; whereas the NSA agreement prohibits re-channelling of the reactors,while the EU agreement implies that running the plant too long without re-channelling,or re-channel-
ling,is in breach of the NSA Agreement,
M. whereas the favourable outcome of the donor conference of 21/22 June 2000 will further facilitate
decision-making concerning the decommissioning of unit 2; whereas pledges by additional countriescould further accelerate this process,
N. whereas a harmonious development of the economy and society of the Kaliningrad region is impor-
tant also for Lithuania and other neighbouring countries; whereas relations with the Kaliningrad
region should be strengthened in order to promote such a development; whereas this may also beconducive to the enhancement of EU-Russia relations on a wider scale,
O. whereas the principle that the pace of negotiations and the order in which candidate countries will
accede to the EU shall be determined by their state of preparation must be adhered to,
1. Welcomes the opening of negotiations on EU membership with Lithuania and calls on all parties
concerned to conduct these negotiations in such a way as to allow Lithuania,if it demonstrates equivalent
progress in its preparations for membership,to catch up with countries of the former first group and toparticipate in the first wave of enlargement;C 178/136 EN 22.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 4 October 2000
2. Notes that Lithuania clearly satisfies the political criteria for EU membership,but calls on Lithuania
to continue the fight against corruption,conclude the reform of the judiciary,increase efforts to improvethe performance of the police,improve prison conditions and broaden its approach to the fight against
crime;
3. Recalls that Lithuania is both a country of origin and a country of transit and destination for traffick-
ing in women,which is constantly increasing; calls on the Government of Lithuania and the governments
of the EU Member States to adopt effective measures to combat trafficking in persons and to ensure thatits victims are guaranteed practical and effective assistance;
4. Encourages Lithuania to gradually focus its economic policy on creating conditions that promote
long-term growth; draws attention to the central role in this regard of investments in infrastructure and
in the raising of skill-levels;
5. Recognises the difficulty of reconciling the pressing needs for public expenditure,in particular to
promote the modernisation of the economy and to address social needs,with the principle of avoidingexcessive budget deficits that could jeopardise macro-economic stability; considers that Lithuania shouldcritically review all public expenditure that is not clearly linked to its most important policy objectives or
of which the effectiveness is not clearly established;
6. Calls on the Commission and the Council to cooperate with Lithuania in seeking ways to achieve
better balance in bilateral trade and,in this connection,to take into account the development needs ofLithuania’s agricultural sector,which may require the maintenance of asymmetry in trade liberalisationduring the pre-accession process;
7. Encourages Lithuania to develop a comprehensive strategy for agricultural reform and draws atten-
tion to the importance of strengthening administrative structures in this area,not least in order to make
possible the reception and effective use of EU aid; calls on the Commission to use all available mechanismsto assist Lithuania in the development of these structures and to regard this as a matter of urgency;
8. Calls on the Commission to focus pre-accession aid under the SAPARD programme on integrated
rural development,with a view to controlling the social effects of structural change in the agricultural
sector;
9. Recognises Lithuania’s commitment to aligning with the EU acquis and the significant results
achieved;
10. Recognises,also,that a well-designed framework for public administration reform has been put in
place and believes that this reform will prove successful in raising the capacity to implement the acquis to
the high level required; encourages Lithuania to sustain its efforts in this area;
11. Emphasises that the current timetable for the decommissioning of the two Chernobyl-type units of
the Ignalina nuclear power plant must not be relaxed,recalls that the EU will provide substantial assistance
to Lithuania in connection with the decommissioning;
12. Welcomes the fact that eight EU countries,as well as other States (Germany,Denmark,Sweden,
Belgium,Ireland,Finland,the Netherlands,Austria,Norway,Poland,Switzerland and the USA),havealready made bilateral contributions of their own towards financing the decommissioning of Ignalinanuclear power station and calls on those Member States which have not done so to follow these positive
examples;
13. Points to the need to develop cooperation with the Kaliningrad region in order to avert develop-
ments there that could have destabilising effects in a much wider area; stresses that an active EU policy inthis regard could play a pioneering role for the broadening and deepening of EU-Russia relations;
14. Calls on the Commission to propose a strategy for EU cooperation with Russia,Lithuania,Poland
and other interested countries on Kaliningrad and to present proposals for concrete cooperation projects,
taking into account the Northern Dimension and the Lithuanian-Russian Nida initiative; calls on the Com-
mission to improve coordination between the Phare and Tacis programmes as regards cross-border pro-jects;22.6.2001 EN C 178/137 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 4 October 2000
15. Welcomes the great strides that Lithuania has made in developing its border controls,and considers
that a simplified border crossing procedure for local residents should be found;
16. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission,the Council,the parliaments of
the Member States and the Lithuanian Government and Parliament.
5. Poland
A5-0246/2000
European Parliament’s resolution on Poland’s application for membership of the European Union
and the state of negotiations (COM(1999) 509 /dash C5-0032/2000 /dash 1997/2174(COS))
The European Parliament,
6dash having regard to Poland’s application for membership of the European Union submitted on 5 April
1994 pursuant to Article 49 of the TEU,
6dash having regard to the opinion of the Commission on this application (COM(1997) 2002 6dash C4-0374/
1997),
6dash having regard to the 1999 Regular Report on Poland’s progress towards accession (COM(1999) 509 6dash
C5-0032/2000) and to the 1999 Composite Paper of the Commission (COM(1999) 500 6dash C5-0341/2000),
6dash having regard to the decisions adopted by the European Council,notably in Copenhagen (21/22 June
1993),Luxembourg (12/13 December 1997),and Helsinki (10/11 December 1999),
6dash having regard to the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States
of the one part,and Poland of the other part,
6dash having regard to the Accession Partnership for Poland,6dash having regard to its resolution of 15 April 1999 (
1) on the First Regular Report from the Commission
on Poland’s progress towards accession,
6dash having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,
6dash having regard to the report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,Human Rights,Common Security
and Defence Policy (A5-0246/2000),
A. whereas accession negotiations with Poland have reached a critical stage with the opening of all the
chapters including the very important one of agriculture,
B. whereas the Polish authorities have stressed that,in their opinion,Poland will be ready to accede by
31 December 2002,
C. acknowledging the efforts made by Poland to adopt the Community acquis and to transpose Commu-
nity legislation,
D. noting that human rights and fundamental freedoms are fully respected in Poland and that the ratifi-
cation by the Government of the principal conventions on human rights provides sufficient guarantees
from the point of view of international and constitutional law,
E. conscious of the fact that the rural population accounts for 38 % of Poland’s total population and
4,9 % of the GDP and that agricultural employment is estimated at 27,4 %, compared with 5 % inthe EU; whereas there is a need for alternative employment in the rural area and for structural reform,not only in connection with the preparation for EU accession,but also for the survival of the sector in
the world economy,
(1) OJ C 219,30.07.1999,p. 446.C 178/138 EN 22.6.2001 Official Journal of the European Communities
Wednesday 4 October 2000