Tallinn, Sept 15: The Baltic state of Estonia has voted to join the European Union, as its leaders hailed its return to Europe 12 years after it regained independence from the Soviet Union. "We have achieved what we have been struggling to get over the past twelve years," President Arnold Ruutel told reporters yesterday after the Electoral Commission announced that 67 per cent of Estonia's voters had voted in favour of joining the bloc, with 33 voting against.
In a joint statement, the President, Parliament Speaker and Prime Minister said the people of the country of 1.4 million people "displayed their firm commitment to the common values of Europe". "Acceding to the EU and Nato next year, the people of Estonia will be ready to bear the responsibility for the future of Europe together with other European states," the statement said.
A total of 63 per cent of the electorate of 865,000 took part in the poll that approved Estonia's plans to join the EU on May 1, 2004. The Estonian referendum was the penultimate in a series of polls in the EU's 10 future member states, with its Baltic neighbour Latvia set to hold the last of the series next Saturday.
Estonia follows Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic in deciding to join the EU, while Cyprus will not hold a referendum on joining. Bureau Report