European Parliament resolution on Lithuania's application for membership of the European Union and the state of negotiations (COM(1999) 507 - C5-0030/2000 - 1997/2178(COS))
Date: 2000-10-04
Institutions: Committee on Foreign Affairs, European Parliament
Subjects: EU relations, Lithuania, accession criteria, accession negotiations, accession to the European Union, economic situation, political situation

22.6.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 178/135

Wednesday 4 October 2000

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 that
the 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 right
to appeal against detention must be guaranteed and that complementary forms of protection and family
reunification 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 EU
to 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;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission and the Council, the parlia-

16.
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 ( C5-0030/2000 ( 1997/2178(COS))

The European Parliament,

3 having regard to Lithuania’s application for membership of the European Union, submitted on

8 December 1995, pursuant to Article 49 of the TEU,

3 having regard to the opinion of the Commission on this application (COM(1997) 2007 3 C4-0379/

97),

3 having regard to the 1999 Regular Report on Lithuania’s progress towards accession (COM(1999) 507
3 C5-0030/2000) and to the 1999 Composite Paper of the Commission (COM(1999) 500 3
C5-0341/2000),

3 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),

3 having regard to the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States,

of the one part, and Lithuania of the other part,

3 having regard to the 1999 Accession Partnership for Lithuania,

3 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 December
1998 (1),

3 having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

3 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
improve prison conditions and develop a more comprehensive

the police,

the performance of
approach to crime prevention,

(1) OJ C 398, 21.12.1998, p. 54.

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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 the
EU; 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 countries
could 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 be
conducive 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 to
participate in the first wave of enlargement;

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Official Journal of the European Communities

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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 improve
the 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 that
its 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 avoiding
excessive budget deficits that could jeopardise macro-economic stability; considers that Lithuania should
critically 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 of
Lithuania’s agricultural sector, which may require the maintenance of asymmetry in trade liberalisation
during the pre-accession process;

Encourages Lithuania to develop a comprehensive strategy for agricultural reform and draws atten-
7.
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 mechanisms
to 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;

Recognises Lithuania’s commitment

9.
achieved;

to aligning with the EU acquis and the significant results

Recognises, also, that a well-designed framework for public administration reform has been put in
10.
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;

Emphasises that the current timetable for the decommissioning of the two Chernobyl-type units of
11.
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), have
already made bilateral contributions of their own towards financing the decommissioning of Ignalina
nuclear 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 in
this 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;

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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;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the parliaments of

16.
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 ( C5-0032/2000 ( 1997/2174(COS))

The European Parliament,

3 having regard to Poland’s application for membership of the European Union submitted on 5 April

1994 pursuant to Article 49 of the TEU,

3 having regard to the opinion of the Commission on this application (COM(1997) 2002 3 C4-0374/

1997),

3 having regard to the 1999 Regular Report on Poland’s progress towards accession (COM(1999) 509 3
C5-0032/2000) and to the 1999 Composite Paper of the Commission (COM(1999) 500 3 C5-0341/
2000),

3 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),

3 having regard to the Europe Agreement between the European Communities and their Member States

of the one part, and Poland of the other part,

3 having regard to the Accession Partnership for Poland,

3 having regard to its resolution of 15 April 1999 (1) on the First Regular Report from the Commission

on Poland’s progress towards accession,

3 having regard to Rule 47(1) of its Rules of Procedure,

3 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 % in
the 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.