The idea that Germany should organize referenda about enlargement of EU directly affected not only Lithuania, but also all candidate countries. Will it be the new condition in the process of entering or it is only the personal opinion of authorities?

Lithuania is a candidate to enter European Union before 2003. It is to improve a lot of economical, legislative, political and social realms. Even though the preparation is being done at the highest level, public opinion still remains very important; not only in Lithuania and other candidate states, but also in EU member states, such as Germany for example. Recently EC Commissioner Günter Verheugen responsible for Enlargement of European Union gave an interview to German newspaper “Sueddeutsche Zeitung". In the interview he expressed the idea of introducing the national referenda about enlargement of EU in Germany. Candidate countries took this thought of him very seriously because it means that running the referenda is making some huge obstacles. If German population thought that EU should remain in the same condition as it is now, the doors to Eastern European countries would be closed. Enlargement policy evoked the opinions and some politicians also contributed by saying that accepting Eastern European countries will lead to unpredictable social and economical changes. These ideas are partially true, but even a small doubt can increase very rapidly. Member states felt a thread to Enlargement of EU and expressed their concern. Nicole Fontaine, the President of European Parliament, initiated the open debate and gave the opportunity to explain the situation to the Commissioner. Günter Verheugen explained that he spoke about national matters of Germany to the newspaper and did not mean to make the referenda as new condition for candidate countries. He emphasized that enlargement is not a thread, but rather an opportunity for both sides: European Union and candidate countries. The fact that negative position of society about enlargement is an akin to introduce information campaign and persuade societies about accepting new members. Günter Verheugen also added that he should express his personal thoughts more carefully in future, because this case shows how much misunderstandings and political mistakes can occur. Lithuania is one of so-called “second block“ candidate country. The entering date is 2003 in the best case. Before that there are a lot of requirements to be fulfilled in order to enter EU. The main requirement is that population of the country would be positive about joining the EU. So far it makes some troubles, because surveys say that about one half is pro and another half is contra entering EU. The main reason why this opinion is not so clear is the lack of information. Günter Verheugen mentioned information campaign, so in future the attitude to informing people about EU both in Germany and Lithuania will improve, because EU funds all the candidate countries for spreading the information. So far Lithuania is improving the legislature and equating it with EU standards. It is a little bit problematic, because now the economical situation is quite bad and any new changes are condemned to be unpopular in society. The other reason is distrust of the Government. Society does not think that state authorities can change something to good side because of corruption. The other big problem is decreasing the agriculture workers from 20% to 7%. When unemployment is more than 10% it is rather dangerous, because it has tendencies to increase. There are some more factors why public opinion is not so good about EU and entering it, but it is just the matter of time and information. Various programs are doing a lot already persuading people about EU. One of them is Lithuanian Delegation in European Commission information center. There citizens can get free literature about EU and Lithuania, read some books, search for information on Internet and the most important, come and see the live broadcasts from European Parliament. During such broadcasts mass media and officials of various institutions arrive, so current issues can be discussed. The activities of this center is not enough to change public opinion, so various actions are being done in schools and universities, where young people participate in various contests of researches, writing and even drawing. That's why, statistically, young people are mostly for EU while their parents remain skeptical.