Moscow Times - 09.16.2003

 

 

 

 

Moscow Times

Estonia Gives Big Yes to EU Entry

By Michael Tarm 

TALLINN, Estonia - (AP) Estonians on Monday celebrated the successful passage of a referendum giving the country membership in the European Union.

One word, "Yes!", filled the front page of Estonia's Postimees newspaper from top to bottom. 

In an editorial, the daily said that the result would be particularly gratifying for the many Estonians who knew the "the atrocities of war and the hell of totalitarianism" in the 20th century. 

The Paevaleht daily published a drawing of a sun, dotted with stars from the EU's flag: "The EU sun, shining on us now," the caption beneath read. 

"Estonia has returned, for good, to Europe," Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts told reporters -- after cheering in the results late Sunday night at a party at the Scotland Yard pub in the capital, Tallinn. 

Delighted leaders said the 67 percent vote in favor of membership marked the dawn of a new age for the Baltic Sea country of 1.4 million people, which, for most of the past 800 years, has been sucked by force into one power bloc after another -- the last time by the Red Army. 

"In the dark days of its history, Estonia experienced firsthand what the Iron Curtain did to Europe," European Commission President Romano Prodi said in a statement. 

"Now it can harvest the fruits of a united Europe." 

Estonia, which regained independence amid the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union after a 50-year occupation, is slated to enter the EU as a full member next year -- with nine other candidates. 

Twelve years ago, with the economy in free-fall, it looked like it would take decades for Estonia to meet EU requirements. 

But radical open-market reforms were implemented immediately after communism unraveled, and Estonia quickly gained a reputation as the most successful of the 15 former Soviet republics. 

Estonians on Monday also began to look to their future within the EU. 

Prime Minister Parts said Estonia should not shrink from trying to make a mark in the continental-wide bloc -- despite being one of the smallest new members. 

"Estonia can come out with initiatives to reduce red tape and to liberalize the economy and so on," he was quoted by Postimees as saying. 

Others said Estonia, in the EU, would be more ideally positioned than ever to serve as a trade-transit zone between the West and Russia. 

But not everyone marked the results with fanfare. 

"This is the starting point for the tragedy of the Estonian nation," lamented Vello Leito on Sunday night at a no-campaign reception in Tallinn. Two lone balloons wobbled on a nearby windowsill, with text on them saying "No to the EU! Yes to Estonian Independence!" 

Commentators also sounded a sober note Monday, saying EU-bound Estonia still faces a host of economic problems. 

One cartoon showed a man staring bewilderedly into his wallet a day after voting yes to the EU. "That's funny," he says, "it's just as empty today as it was yesterday." 

At times in recent months, opinion polls suggested lukewarm support for membership -- stemming in part from fears that accession could prompt steep price increases. 

But the Estonian government and businesses, spooked by the prospect of missing out on seamless access to lucrative EU markets, pulled out the stops -- and campaign cash -- to ensure victory. 

Pro-EU forces argued passionately that EU entry would boost living standards for most and, in the case of the elderly, at least for their children and grandchildren. 

Many pro-EU ads also raised the specter that Estonia's erstwhile ruler Russia could re-exert its influence if the nation stayed out of mainstream Europe. 

Opponents warned the EU will force Estonia to abandon it low-tariff, low-tax system that has helped it achieve years of impressive economic growth, at or above 5 percent. 

At an anti-membership rally before the vote, one protester said Estonians were about to lose their identity. He held aloft a placard decrying the birth of the "Euro-Stonian." 

"EU membership may not be an immediate disaster, but the realization will come later -- when people begin to realize that they've bought a ticket on the Titanic," another EU skeptic, Igor Grazin, said. 

"Even the Titanic set sail, at first, with lots of dancing and merrymaking."