EU–Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee 5th Meeting

18–19 September 2000

Riga

Declaration and Recommendations

Unanimously adopted

in Riga on 19 September 2000

The EU–Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee held its 5th meeting in Riga on 18 and 19 September 2000 under the co-chairmanship of Mr. Alfred Gomolka (European Parliament) and Mr. Gundars Bojars (Latvian Saeima).

The Members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee discussed the following issues:

• the progress in Latvia’s preparation for EU membership and EU–Latvia relations

• the political and economic situation in Latvia

• the developments in the European Union

The EU–Latvia Joint Parliamentary Committee:

1) notes the conclusions of the EU–Latvia Association Council, which took place in Brussels on 15 February 2000;

2) notes the conclusions of the European Council in Santa Maria da Feira dated 19 and 20 June 2000;

On the progress in Latvia’s preparation

for EU membership and EU–Latvia relations

3) welcomes the launching of accession negotiations with Latvia on 15 February 2000, notes with satisfaction the progress made up to now calls on all parties concerned to maintain the dynamism of the process, and to conduct these negotiations in such a way as to allow Latvia to participate in the first enlargement wave, provided that Latvia can demonstrate equivalent progress in adopting and implementing the Acquis;

4) notes the important steps achieved in addressing the Accession Partnership priorities, in particular, implementation of the Public Administration reform, alignment of legislation on public procurement, copyrights, data protection, company law but considers that further efforts are necessary to strengthen the administrative capacity to implement the Acquis in areas such as data protection, company law, telecommunications, agriculture and fisheries;

5) notes the steps to enjoy the independence of judicial institutions from political influence and to upgrade the judiciary but considers that long delays in court hearings and enforcement of decisions are not compatible with the Acquis, Human Rights and the Rule of Law;

6) notes with satisfaction the increase in bilateral trade between EU and Latvia over the last years, especially in the first half of 2000, which implies a higher degree of commercial integration;

7) welcomes the agreement recently reached on mutual concessions concerning agricultural products and processed food, hopes that these measures would contribute to an increase in bilateral trade and strengthen the rural development in Latvia with support of the EU through SAPARD liberalization and as a catalyst for the Latvian agricultural sector during the pre-accession period;

8) notes that the entry into force of the new multiannual financial framework will entail a significant increase in pre-accession aid granted to Latvia; in this connection it would be advisable for Latvia to

— improve its capacity for programming and monitoring financial aid in order to optimise its input,

— encourage local authorities to participate actively in the management of new instruments such as SAPARD, which should be extended to disadvantaged rural areas in order to help to reduce the existing gap in the development of different regions;

9) considers that this increase in EU aid should enable the Latvian authorities to accommodate the pressing social requirements of the most vulnerable sectors of the population by finalising the remaining reforms in the pensions and health systems, increased support for employment creation measures;

10) welcomes Latvia’s active participation in several Community’s programmes such as Youth for Europe, Socrates, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael as well as the 5th framework programme for RTD which provides the opportunity to gain useful working experience within the EU administrative structures;

11) welcomes the Latvian Government’s adoption on 13 June of the revised Latvian National Programme for Adopting the Acquis, which incorporates the recommendations of the Commission and the results of the bilateral screening exercise in order to meet the needs of the accession process as well as possible; hopes that the implementation of this instrument will enable the objectives set in the Accession Partnership to be achieved;

12) welcomes the adoption of the Latvian Strategy for Integration into the EU by the parliament in the beginning of 2000, which will serve as a basis of a unified approach and of streamlining the actions to prepare for Latvia’s integration into the European Union;

13) welcomes the opening on 9 may 2000 of the EU Information Centre in Riga according to the principles of the EU Information Strategy and hopes that initiative would contribute to improving Latvian public awareness about the integration process, the functioning of the EU and the duties, which membership implies; welcomes Latvia’s own contribution by the adoption of the strategy for information of society on EU issues; and asks the Commission to support this financially through the planned communication strategy;

14) encourages the Latvian authorities to involve democratically all sectors of the society in the EU accession process and in the major changes in society that this will lead to. This must include the citizens on a broad basis through participation of local and regional authorities, social partners and NGOs;

15) calls on the Commission to consider the possibility of most efficient use of ISPA instrument with regard to maritime transport policy, taking into account the strategic position of Latvia in the Baltic Sea and its potentially important role in maritime traffic; invites in this respect the Latvian authorities to establish and implement the appropriate administrative structures in order to improve maritime safety; and also the intermodal connections;

On the political and economic situation in Latvia

16) acknowledges the progress achieved in the integration of non Latvians into the Latvian society; welcomes the ongoing work on the National Programme "Integration of Society in Latvia", which will benefit all Latvia’s residents; is confident that the Latvian Government will ensure effective and adequate implementation of the secondary legislation to the "State Language Law"; encourages Latvian authorities to promote and intensify the naturalization process;

17) encourages Latvian authorities to continue a smooth integration process and supports Latvia’s readiness to facilitate this process; inter alia, by providing more opportunities for non–citizens to learn about the possibilities to naturalize and to give special attention to the possibility of integration for those non–citizens who are elderly or lacking Latvian language skills and therefore unlikely to apply for citizenship;

18) calls on the Saeima to ratify the Council of Europe Framework Convention on the Protection of Minority Rights, and ensure development of the national minority education system in Latvia, and to establish conditions for adequate teaching of the state language within this system;

19) urges the Latvian authorities to pursue their efforts to curb drug trafficking and the fight against organised crime through the enhanced policy capacity and closer co–operation between police officers and EUROPOL; and despite improvements of rules on asylum also with technical and financial help from the EU calls on Latvia to ratify the Council of Europe Convention on Laundering, Search, Seize and Confiscation of the Proceeds of Crime;

20) supports Latvia’s readiness to develop co–operation with the Russian Federation and hopes that the resumption of the work of the Latvian–Russian Intergovernmental Commission will promote further development of the legal basis for co–operation, contribute to trans–border and regional co–operation that would serve the interests of both countries; and especially of the people in the border regions;

21) congratulates Latvia on its contribution to the work of the Council of the Baltic Sea States which agreed, during the 9th ministerial session in Bergen, on important concrete measures to improve framework conditions for trade and investment, to promote development of information technology, further regional co–operation on energy issues and an advanced join approach to the environment of the region; welcomes Latvia’s active work in the Baltic Council of Ministers, where Latvia has now the presidency; its contribution to the meeting of the Prime Ministers of the Baltic States in Parnu; welcomes Latvia’s active role in the Baltic Assembly whose objective is to facilitate cooperation among Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia on a parliamentary level; sees the necessity to include conversion as a important topic on the agenda of the Baltic Sea Co–operation;

22) encourages the Latvian authorities to pursue their efforts aiming at macro–economic and financial stability in order to reduce the current account deficit;

23) stresses the importance to further pursue the fight against the corruption, which requires co–operation at all levels in society and must be based, if it is to be effective, on a sense of civic responsibility throughout the population; calls on the Latvian authorities to ratify the 1999 Council of Europe Criminal Law Convention on Corruption;

24) stresses the importance of a sound and complete legal framework and precise implementation provisions with regard to free movement of capital in order to encourage foreign direct investment and to complete successfully the privatization process;

25) underlines the need to continue to strengthen the administrative capacity necessary to apply the Community Acquis and stresses in this respect the benefits of twinning administration and agencies in Member States and Latvia, also with regard to strengthening the regional and local administration and suggests to the Latvian authorities that they choose varied partners;

On internal developments within the EU

26) welcomes the European Council decision to endorse the Action Plan for the Northern Dimension with external and cross–border policy of the EU for 2000–2003 and stresses the importance of this instrument to promote and strengthen co–operation among all parties concerned with emphasis in the fields on environment, nuclear safety, fight against international crime;

27) expects that the Intergovernmental Conference in the EU institutional reforms will achieve its aim of adapting EU institutions for the enlarged Union within the deadlines set by the Helsinki European Council;

28) notes with satisfaction the progress made by the EU establishing a European security and defence policy, which should enable the EU to act independently and meet security challenges effectively; and hopes for a active partnership with Latvia in the field of non–military crisis management;

29) hopes that the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is currently being elaborated, will strengthen the protection of human rights and their visibility to the citizens of the EU.