Joining the Union

Finland supports Latvia's goal of joining the European Union in the first wave of the enlargement. Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said that it is impossible to predict the exact date, but Finland hopes that Latvia's progress will enable it to be, if not the very first, then at least in the first group of countries to join the EU. Latvia's Foreign Minister Indulis Berzins said that Latvia aims to complete its membership talks by the end of 2002 and, thus, join the EU next year. However, if it is not until 2005, Latvia will not cry, Berzins continued. Finland supports the other Baltic states' bids to join the EU as well.