EU report lauds Baltics on integration effort

The Baltic countries have made significant progress in integrating ethnic Russians into their societies, says Matti Wuori, a Finnish member of the European Parliament. According to a report in the daily Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, Wuori praised the Baltics in his report to the European Parliament on the observance of human rights in countries that are candidates to join the European Union. In the report, Wuori singled out Latvia for adopting its "National Programme for Social Integration" and also noted that Latvia is among those countries that are implementing laws about freedom of information. The report, according to the newspaper, also criticized many of the candidate countries over their treatment of Roma, or the Gipsy minority.