Baltics hope for EU transformation
By CNN's Jill Dougherty
RIGA, Latvia (CNN) -- Drop into a coffee shop in the Baltics and ask almost anyone what they think about joining Europe, and they're apt to correct you.
"We're re-joining Europe," notes Linda Zeilina, a student in Riga, Latvia.
"I've always felt like part of Europe. I don't think we are like some other Eastern Europe or something like that. We aren't like Russians or something like that. We have totally different characteristics."
These new members of the European Union bring with them a different history and a different way of looking at the world -- not only because they once were part of the Soviet Union, but also because the economic legacy of those 50 years is not easily erased.
For instance, in the past few weeks, rumors have swept Latvia that salt -- imported from Ukraine and used for pickling vegetables -- would be prohibited once the country becomes part of the EU.
Hoarding began, with some stores selling 50 times more salt than usual. Vinegar and sugar sales rose too.
In Riga's Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, youngsters learn what their grandparents went through under Hitler and Stalin.
But their reality now is the European Union, and they are looking forward to EU membership.
"You can drive to Europe and other countries and pay with euros," says one student, Artus Bremers. "You don't have to pay in their money."
Latvian students looking for jobs see possible advantages too.
"Maybe it will be easier to find a job because we don't have rich market -- rich job market -- here in Latvia, so it's quite difficult to find a job in your specialty," says Paul Pozdnikov.
But the Baltics have their Euroskeptics as well.
"You know, I can't really say it's positive or negative," says another student, Ksenya Sundyeva.
"It will open up new possibilities for me personally, you can work in other countries ... but prices are rising and they'll continue to go up".
Latvia's president says there are plusses as well as and minuses to joining the European Union.
 Vike-Freiberga: The EU has a "moral obligation" to embrace the Baltics. |  |
"Certainly we are gaining this very large market which actually will now be larger than the United States in terms of numbers of inhabitants," says President Vaira Vike-Freiberga.
"The losses are that this market, in order to have access to it, we have to comply with this enormous body of severe restrictions and severe requirements."
Some Latvian businesses may not be able to compete, she says, and some jobs will be lost. But others will survive -- and grow.
The EU's embrace of the Baltic countries, she says, is not only a "sensible" thing to do but also a "moral obligation" -- a step that promises to transform the Baltics and change the whole of Europe.
