Latvia has been part of the EU for 20 years

9 years of negotiations and preparation

The process of Latvia’s entry or accession to the EU took almost 9 years – that’s how much time has passed since our country submitted an official application about its desire to join the EU. This happened in 1995, and two years later Brussels launched the process of negotiations and preparations for our accession to the EU.

In September 2003, when the decision to expand the EU had already been made, a referendum was held in which 66.97% of Latvian citizens with the right to vote were in favor of Latvia joining the EU. The turnout was 71.49%.

The historic ratification of the treaty on accession to the EU took place calmly and without discussion – on October 30, 2003, with 87 votes in favor, four against and two abstentions, the treaty was ratified by the 8th Seimas.

A month after Latvia officially joined the EU, in 2004, our politicians ran for the European Parliament for the first time. Thus, the elections to the EP, which will be held on June 8 this year, will also become a anniversary.

Forecasts of Eurosceptics and Eurooptimists

Twenty years is quite a long period of time, which allows us to draw significant conclusions about all the gains and losses from EU membership. Both the process of joining the EU and the first years of EU membership were accompanied by various myths that were spread by both Eurosceptics and Eurooptimists.

Euro-optimists really believed that Latvia’s accession to the EU would work a miracle – investors would simply pour into the country, creating well-paid jobs, and European money (Eurofunds) would quickly raise the standard of living in Latvia.

In turn, Eurosceptics threatened with the loss of all independence of Latvia – they say that the country would not be able to make even a “cosmetic” decision without agreement with Brussels.

Each of us can be convinced that both sides were wrong in their predictions. What is the reality?

Let’s start with the advantages of Latvia’s membership in the EU. To be fair, we admit that there are disproportionately more of them than there are minuses. It really is like this:

For every one euro paid into the general EU budget, we get back from the EU as much as 4 euros!

If it were not for European funds, then our main state roads would look something like what, alas, local roads still look like. Eurofunds made it possible to improve the infrastructure of hospitals and other medical institutions, to improve the environmental situation… Common European standards protected consumers and strengthened, despite all the shortcomings, the foundations of the rule of law.

And it is not the fault of the European Union that Latvia, for example, is not able to effectively use EU funds allocated for the implementation of large projects. The most striking example is the Rail Baltica project of the century. This year and next year alone, Latvia will have access to almost 3 billion euros from two European funds! Please use the money for development, to improve your life!

Emigration pandemic

Of course, joining the single European Union market made it possible to significantly increase exports and provide many other advantages of a single free market. But there were also “side effects”, and very serious ones.

So, since Latvia joined the EU, our country has lost about 300 thousand residents – due to labor emigration, that is, our residents moving to study and work in the EU.

This was almost inevitable, given the difference in salaries and opportunities between Latvia and the countries of the “old world”. The reality is that even today there is a departure of the working population to richer EU countries – this process has only slowed down during the Covid pandemic. Yes, emigration is no longer on the same scale as after Latvia joined the EU or after the crisis of 2009, but the ongoing outflow of the population itself indicates that no breakthrough in economic development has occurred over the past 4-5 years.

Alas, even today, after 20 years of EU membership, Latvia occupies one of the last places in the European Union in terms of living standards and a number of other key indicators. Should the European Union be blamed for this? Only partly – after all, the main blame lies with our home-grown politicians!

The hopes of some Latvians that the European Union would protect, for example, national minorities in some special way, were not justified. Brussels practically does not interfere in human rights issues, with the exception of some fundamental issues. For example, in the event of an attack on the independence of the judiciary, as happened in Poland under the previous government. Still, issues of the rights of national minorities fall within the competence of the Council of Europe, and the EU is, first of all, an economic union.

There is no alternative

Let’s be realistic: Latvia had no alternative to the European Union.

Firstlythe expansion of the EU at the expense of the Baltic countries was a general, political process, and it would be strange if Latvia “fell out” of it.

SecondlyThe European Union is the most powerful economic entity on our continent and one of the most powerful in the whole world – along with the USA and China.

It is clear that the European Union, in order to remain a global player, must change – less bureaucracy, less populism in the form of a green course… But one thing is clear: Latvia needs and will need the European Union for many, many years to come.

In addition, many Latvian politicians believe that Brussels could “intervene” even more in the policies of EU member states – for example, in social issues, developing uniform standards for minimum pensions and benefits.

The imbalance in the European Union is still very significant: the size of benefits in rich EU countries is higher than the average salary in Latvia! And this is after 20 years of EU membership!