LATVIA’S APPLICATION FOR EU MEMBERSHIP IN PROCESS.

In Luxemburg yesterday, the foreign ministers of EU countries began the processing of Latvia’s application for EU membership. Latvian foreign minister Valdis Birkavs and his Estonian and Lithuanian colleagues attended the Luxemburg meeting. (8)

Latvia is the first of the Baltic states, and first ex-Soviet republic, to apply for full membership in the EU. The three Baltic states signed association agreements with the EU simultaneously in June 1994. But EU officials have made clear that the Baltic states’ membership applications will be considered individually and that they cannot be admitted to full membership as a group.

Steps Toward Baltic Common Security.