Latvians vote to join EU

[dArKeR]

Latvians voted overwhelmingly to join the Eureopean Union, according to early election results Saturday, but the government was thrown into turmoil when one party bolted the ruling coalition.

With more than half of the country's 1,006 polling districts reporting, 68.5 percent voted in favor of joining the EU, while 30.8 per cent voted against, the Central Election Commission reported.

By the time voting ended at 10 p.m., more than 70 per cent of the country's 1.4 million eligible voters had cast ballots, the commission said. That easily cleared the necessary 50 per cent turnout requirement.

Amid the apparent success, a government crisis arose, with the Latvia First party, part of the centre-right ruling coalition, saying it planned to quit the group. The four coalition parties had apparently agreed not to withdraw before the referendum, which they supported, fearing it could hamper efforts to convince residents to vote yes.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030920.wlatv0920/BNStory/International/

[Brucey]

1. What does Latvia gain? It seems that they will be under a lot of

new rules that could cause them trouble.

[aneerkoinos]

2. Hi there neoliberal!

[T_i_B]

4. Free Trade

Latvia gains entry to the EU single market, which means that there are no import barriers between Latvia and the other EU countries. That is IMHO the main prize here.

Plus lots of regulation, some good and some bad. And representiation in the EU Parliament and a chance to influence the decisions being made in Brussels. Not to mention the Common Agricultural Policy, something that I for one dislike intensely.

It's a HUGE decision with good and bad points and the people of Latvia voted yes to it. Of course last week the Swdes voted no joinning the European single currency, but Latvia is not that far down the EU path just yet.

Oh, and we had a referendum on this issue in 1975 which we voted yes on too. Mind you, since then the Euro-scpetics have taken over the debate in Britain big time.

[aneerkoinos]

5. Euro and new members

I may be wrong, but I think all the new members also voted yes for euro in these referendums. In practical terms thay will be joining the Eurozone gradually between 2006-2010. I believe the reasons not joining Eurozone immediately in 2004 were mostly technical.

[aneerkoinos]

3. Wellcome Latvia!!!

Now that's 10 out of 10, pretty good show of trust for EU.

Personally I'm bit surprised, I though nationalism might gain the upper hand in one or two of the candidate countries. I'm glad I was wrong.

Next thing to do, reduce EU25 to EU24, let the English kick themselves out... (OK EU26, we'll keep Scotland and Wales ;)