EC/Lithuania Europe Agreement

Recalling the various stages involved in the run-up to the signature of the Europe Agreements by the Council of Ministers in June 1995, Commissioner van den Broek announced that Estonia and Lithuania had already approved the Agreements. There were still some problems in Lithuania regarding ratification because its legislation had to be amended in order to allow foreigners to acquire property. In comparison to the agreements concluded with the CEECs, these Agreements provided for cooperation in the fight against crime. A series of measures, including special regional assistance, had been implemented to prepare for their pre-accession strategy, even before ratification of the Europe Agreements by the countries in question. As a result, even taking into consideration the significant economic and social progress made by the Baltic republics, the Commissioner called on the European Parliament to approve the Europe Agreements concluded with these countries in order to eliminate any obstacles to the launch of the pre-accession strategy.