Estonia as front-runner among EU candidates

Upon completion of the EU summit in Goteborg, European Commission (EC) President Romano Prodi and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen flew to Estonia, where they held talks on 18 June with the parliament's European affairs and foreign affairs committees. Prodi expressed his satisfaction with the Goteborg summit, which fixed the end of 2002 as the target date for completing the EU accession talks with front-running candidates so they can take part in the European Parliament elections in 2004. He said that there is no reason why Estonia should not be among the front-runners in the upcoming round of EU expansion. Prodi mentioned that the EC has approved Estonia's SAPARD (Special Accession Program for Agriculture and Rural Development) program allocating 12 million euros ($10.7 million) for its farmers. The two EU leaders also lunched with President Lennart Meri.