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September 7, 2003

Sveiki, all!

Personal and work life have been conspiring to keep us from a regular publishing schedule, for which we apologize. And welcome to our new readers! Lots in the news since our last issue:

We've got several links for you to explore, since we're been remiss over the past month or so. You may notice from our comments that we haven't been completely idle...

This edition's picture is another from our recent summer vacation.

As always, AOL'ers, remember, mailer or not, Lat Chat spontaneously appears every Sunday on AOL starting around 9:00/9:30pm Eastern time, lasting until 11:00/11:30pm. AOL'ers can follow this link in their AOL browser: Town Square - Latvian chat. And thanks to you participating on the Latvian message board as well: LATVIA (both on AOL only).

As the anniversary of the attack of 9/11 approaches, this edition's dates in Latvia's history remind us that the struggle for freedom from oppression is neither quick nor easy. Our prayers are with all those who lost loved ones on that day--and with all those whose loved ones are in harm's way protecting freedom.

Ar visu labu,

SilvijaPeters

 

  Latvian Link

Pictures from photographer Gary Friedman's 1998 trip to Latvia:
      http://www.friedmanarchives.com/Latvia

The Central Statistics Bureau of Latvia:
      http://www.csb.lv
They have graciously consented to our bringing to you their statistical survey of Latvia, produced to celebrate Latvia's twentieth anniversary of (its original) independence.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies:
      http://web.mit.edu/cis/
We also hope to bring you their study of "Attitudes of the Soviet Nationalities," published in 1973. (Our ongoing quest for greater objectivity was invigorated by someone's university paper which described ours as a "questionable" research site, but still worthwhile--oh well, if we can't be famous, we'll settle for infamous...)

A Latvian genealogy site we hadn't run across earlier:
      http://www.roots-saknes.lv (in English)
It's a work in progress that looks very promising!

 

  News


Steamed pink, heat freaks sweat it out at Sauna World
AP WorldStream Saturday, August 02, 2003 1:24:00 PM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By MATTI HUUHTANEN
Associated Press Writer

      HEINOLA, Finland (AP) — Sweat oozing men and women from 15 countries competed Saturday to see who could last the longest in 110 degrees Celsius (230 degrees Fahrenheit) to take the Sauna World Championship title in southern Finland.
      Watched carefully by judges and doctors alike, Belorussian Natalia Trifanova snatched the Sauna Queen title from local favorite Annikki Peltonen -- last year's winner -- with a time of 13 minutes.
      "I'm pink but happy," beamed Trifanova, 36, a music teacher from Minsk, displaying blotchy red neck and arms. "I got a lot of satisfaction sitting in there today. It's an extreme sport for me."
      Runner-up Peltonen reeled out of the wooden cubicle 12 seconds before the champion, saved from collapsing to the ground by a team of vigilant stewards.
      Timo Kaukonen, from nearby Lahti, panted to the men's title with a time of 16 minutes 15 seconds, beating three-time champion Leo Pusa from the capital, Helsinki, by 7 seconds.
      About 3,000 people cheered wildly as the 12 finalists sweated it out in Heinola, 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of Helsinki, during a record three-week heat wave that didn't seem to bother the contestants.
      Defying the scalding heat, intensified by showers of water released every 30 seconds on the scorching stove stones, the six women and men sat in separate wide-windowed hexagonal saunas on the stage of an outdoor theater in this sleepy lakeside town.
      Finns normally have a sauna once or twice a week, but they bathe naked.
      "We needed some sort of aesthetic cover for our contestants," said Matti Nieminen, the manager of the event. "Otherwise, people wouldn't enter."
      But, Nieminen conceded, organizers might have to start stipulating the kind of swim wear allowed as new, heat resistant materials could make for unfair competition.
      "Like in all major sports, for example swimming and ski jumping, materials are important. That's the case here too," he said.
      Luke Edwards, from Sydney, Australia, who lasted 3 minutes 4 seconds in the first round, was a bit worried when paramedics peered in through the sauna windows.
      "It's only the fifth sauna I've been in and 100 degrees Celsius (212 F) isn't exactly comfortable. I burnt my ears," he said. "But I beat nine people so I guess that's not too bad."
      The 65 men and 15 women competitors included heat freaks from Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Sweden and Ukraine, as well as the three Baltic countries, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
      Regulations are strict.
      Contestants must have a doctor's certificate to prove they are fit to enter. No rubbing of the skin or slouching is allowed, and elbows must be held on one's knees. All forms of doping, including being intoxicated, are strictly forbidden.
      "We've handed out a few red cards this year, mainly to people who have rubbed their skin," Nieminen said. "But otherwise it's been fair play."
      Kalle Luukkainen, 31, who stopped by to watch the contest with his wife and baby, felt the Finnish sauna tradition was being taken too far. "I think these people need their heads tested. It just seems totally stupid," he said.
      Zad Abderrahim, from Rabat, Morocco, fell out in the opening heats on Friday, after 2 minutes 38 seconds.
      "Sure, it's a bit crazy, but I like crazy things. I'm going to be back next year," Abderrahim said.

Latvian, Russian police discover illegal cross-border liquor smuggling
AP WorldStream Tuesday, August 05, 2003 10:59:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Police have arrested a Russian man for allegedly smuggling illegally distilled liquor from Russia through a kilometer-long (1,000-yard) underground pipe, Latvian officials said Tuesday.
      Authorities in the border town of Vilaka said they found 200 liters (53 gallons) of the moonshine still in the pipe, and Russian police seized two metric tons (4,500 pounds) of it across the border.
      The 46-year-old man, who lives in Latvia, was detained Sunday after a six-month investigation but has not been charged, Latvian border police official Vladislavs Skromans said. He declined to name the suspect.
      Skromans said no other arrests were pending in Latvia. It was unclear if anyone has been arrested or charged in Russia.
      The alcohol was pumped from a house in Russia to a faucet hidden under a wood pile near the home of the suspect's relatives in Vilaka, 240 kilometers (150 miles) northeast of Riga, the capital of this former Soviet Baltic republic, Skromans said. The relatives are not suspected of being involved, he added.
      Russian border police first discovered the plastic pipe and traced it to a fence dividing the Latvian-Russian border.
      Highly potent illegal alcohol, often distilled in Russia, is much cheaper than liquor sold in licensed stores in Latvia.

As more members sign up, Europe's Tower of Babel expands
AP WorldStream Wednesday, August 06, 2003 10:08:00 PM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By VERONIKA OLEKSYN
Associated Press Writer

      BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) — Good morning. Guten morgen. Bonjour. Buenos dias. Buon giorno. Huomenta. God morgen. Bom dia. Goeiemorgen. Kalimera. God morgon.
      The 11 official languages of the European Union already make for quite a mouthful, and starting next May, the linguistic kaleidoscope adds new colors when a fresh batch of member states add nine newcomers to the mix.
      It's going to cost European taxpayers 1 billion euros ($1.13 billion) a year just to translate all the speeches and official texts generated by the continental Tower of Babel.
      The figure will rise yet again if Romania and Bulgaria join in 2006 as planned.
      The European Union already makes the United Nations look a bit provincial. There, 191 member states get by with six official and working languages: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian and Chinese.
      At the European Union, however, all national tongues are equal, although Irish, Catalan, Luxemburgesch, Welsh and other "Lesser Used Languages," as they are called in Eurospeak, never made the cut for official status.
      In reality, English has emerged as the main working language among the 16,000 Eurocrats at EU headquarters, according to Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies.
      EU interpreters say English has won out because more Europeans study it as their main foreign language.
      English's primacy within the EU is ironic since the British are among the leading "Euroskeptics," fearing their independence will be smothered by the EU embrace. However, their language supplanted French in the mid-1990s after Sweden, Austria and Finland joined. English is the major foreign language taught in their schools.
      The trend is expected to accelerate after Malta and the former communist countries, where learning English is the rage, swell EU ranks to 25 next year.
      German, with 90 million speakers in Germany, Austria and parts of Belgium, is the mother tongue of nearly one-quarter of people in the EU -- more than any other language -- yet it too has been edged out by English.
      However, the English which echoes through the glass and concrete halls of the EU is not quite the same as is heard in Buckingham Palace.
      "English always gets butchered," said one of the EU's 700 interpreters. "International English is a kind of pidgin English."
      Interpreters, a tight-knit crowd, are reluctant to go on the record about their shortcomings, but one can glean plenty of examples simply by putting on a pair of earphones.
      Take, for instance, the French speaker whose "head counts" became "hit counts." Or the Dutch representative who told a colleague he didn't "want to mow the lawn before your feet." He meant to say he didn't want to "cut the rug out from under you."
      Vincent Buck, a Belgian interpreter who has worked at the EU for 13 years, fears the quality of English will get worse as the EU expands.
      "Even though English is going to become the new gold standard, it's going to lead to more inefficiency and misunderstandings," he said.
      Cutting down the number of languages to a U.N.-sized half-dozen won't work because EU laws and regulations must be translated into legal languages of all member states and enacted by each EU government.
      Multilingual bureaucrats and ministers might be able to function with a smaller number of languages. But nobody expects a farmer in Poland, a fisherman in Latvia or a shopkeeper in Slovakia to understand a regulation published in someone else's language.
      Raising the number of EU languages from the current 11 to 20 next year will require a lot more translators on the EU payroll.
      A meeting in which 20 languages are spoken will require at least 60 interpreters, according to EU officials. That's nearly double the current requirement.
      This year, the EU's 1,300 translators must convert 1.3 million pages of official documents into various EU languages. By 2006, that number is expected to rise to 2.4 million pages a year.
      Most of the new translators will come from the new member countries. However, EU officials complain that those countries are not producing top-flight interpreters quickly enough.
      Milojka Popovic, who trains interpreters at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, said 40 to 50 Slovenes applied for translator training this year but only 10 were admitted, in part because of limited facilities.
      The school, above a pub in downtown Ljubljana, receives EU funding, but has only four booths in which students can practice simultaneous translating.
      "There's no point to enrolling them if there's no room for them," she said in a telephone interview.
      With time running out, EU officials are looking into other solutions, such as training current interpreters in new languages or establishing a "relay system" where comments in Latvian or Slovak, for example, are translated into English or French and from there into other languages.
      However, the relay system is considered undesirable because it establishes a language hierarchy and can lead to mistranslations as meanings change subtly from language to language.
      "People will be forced to adjust," said Eberhart Rhein of the European Policy Centre. "You might be able to speak your own language at meetings but only listen to what's being said in English and German."
      — — —
      Meanwhile, if you already know that guten morgen is German, bonjour is French, buenos dias is Spanish, buon giorno is Italian, huomenta is Finnish, god morgen is Danish, bom dia is Portuguese, goeiemorgen is Dutch, kalimera is Greek and god morgon is Swedish, try these:
      Tere hommikust (Estonian), dobre jitro (Czech), dzien dobry (Polish), l-ghodwa t-tajba (Maltese), labrit (Latvian), laba ryta (Lithuanian); dobre rano (Slovak), jo reggelt (Hungarian) and dobro jutro (Slovene).

Reuters historical calendar — August 21 [excerpt]
Reuters North America Thursday, August 14, 2003 4:06:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters) — Following are some of the major events to have occurred on August 21 since 1900:
      1944 — Representatives of the United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China met at Dumbarton Oaks near Washington to plan for the formation of the United Nations.
      1991 — Latvia declared independence from the Soviet Union.
      1991 — Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev declared he was back in full control after a 60-hour coup by Communist hardliners crumbled under popular resistance.

Reuters historical calendar — August 25 [excerpt]
Reuters World Report Monday, August 18, 2003 5:16:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) — Following are some of the major events to have occurred on August 25 since 1900:
      1936 — Sixteen opponents of Soviet leader Josef Stalin were executed in Russia after a show trial.
      1940 — Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were incorporated into the Soviet Union.
      1940 — British aircraft dropped their first bombs on Berlin in an overnight raid in World War Two.
      1991 — Belarus declared independence from the Soviet Union.
      1997 — Egon Krenz, East Germany's last hardline Communist leader, was sentenced to six and a half years in jail for the deaths of citizens killed while fleeing over the Berlin Wall.

Latvian police intercept weapons likely intended for terrorists
AP WorldStream Thursday, August 21, 2003 9:16:00 AM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press
By TIMOTHY JACOBS
Associated Press Writer

      RIGA, Latvia (AP) — Latvian security police and customs officials said Thursday they seized an illegal shipment of weapons at Riga international airport.
      Customs officials found 28 tons of military equipment, including night vision devices for tanks and parts for jet fighters and anti-aircraft guns waiting to be shipped on a charter flight Tuesday evening, Latvian customs spokeswoman Dita Klavina said. Authorities believe the shipment came from Russia and was destined for Iran.
      Security police spokeswoman Kristine Apse said counterintelligence experts from the Latvian military were brought in to help identify the seized items. The experts determined the equipment was not likely destined for use by the Iranian army because it is old. The equipment was more likely meant for use by "terrorist organizations for their equipment repairs and modernization," said Apse.
      The shipment had a declared value of US$315,000 and was financed through offshore bank accounts. Apse said police are investigating a Latvian company thought to be involved but offered no further details.
      Yevgeny Dumalkin, an official at the Russian Embassy in Riga, said the embassy had no immediate comment. According to Klavina, the Latvia's customs department has not yet contacted their Russian counterparts about the shipment.
      A spokesman at the Iranian Embassy in Stockholm who declined to give his name said he was unaware of the incident and could not comment.
      Latvian security police have opened an investigation into smuggling of "goods of strategic importance." No arrests have been made.

Latvia president's office evacuated by bomb hoax
Reuters World Report Monday, August 25, 2003 12:14:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      RIGA, Aug 25 (Reuters) — The office of Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga was evacuated on Monday after a bomb threat, but a senior government official said it turned out to be a hoax.
      "It is now confirmed to have been a false alarm, so we can all return to work tomorrow," Martins Bondars, the head of the president's chancellery, told Reuters.
      It was not immediately clear who had called in the bomb threat in the small Baltic republic. Vike-Freiberga was not in the office at the time.
      Latvia holds a referendum on European Union membership on September 20, the culmination of a decade of painful reforms.

Latvian EU "No" loses ground, "Yes" flat at 50 pct
Reuters World Report Thursday, August 28, 2003 6:22:00 AM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      RIGA, Aug 28 (Reuters) — The number of Latvians opposed to European Union membership fell sharply in August while half were in favour of joining, a poll showed on Thursday, bolstering expectations of a resounding "Yes" in next month's referendum.
      The poll by independent pollster Latvijas Fakti showed just 24.8 percent of voters planned to say "No" in the September 20 poll, 9.5 percentage points lower than the previous month. The number in favour was stable at 49.6 percent.
      "The fact that the number of yes-sayers stayed the same signifies that Latvia will join the EU," political analyst Karlis Streips told Reuters.
      Expected turnout surged to 82.9 percent from 69.0 percent in July, comfortably above a 50 percent turnout requirement.
      "People recognise that this is an enormously significant issue for the country," Streips said.
      Latvia regained independence from Moscow's rule in 1991 along with Baltic neighbours Estonia and Lithuania, and most politicians see EU membership next May as the crowning of a decade of often painful reforms.
      "The drop of nay-sayers could be explained by the fact that the (government's) EU information campaign is slowly gaining momentum," Streips said.
      The number of undecided shot up 9.7 percentage points to 25.6 percent in August.
      Latvia is the last of nine mostly East European countries to vote on EU membership, six days after Estonia. So far, seven countries have voted in favour of joining the wealthy club. A 10th joiner, Cyprus, is not holding a referendum.

Stora Enso Timber to Build a Second Sawmill in Latvia
PR Newswire Thursday, August 28, 2003 8:48:00 AM
Copyright 2003 PR Newswire

      HELSINKI, Finland, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire — FirstCall/ — Stora Enso (NYSE: SEO) today announced that Stora Enso Timber will build a new sawmill at Krustpils, near Jekabpils in Latvia, as part of the expansion programme announced in August 2002 when it acquired a majority shareholding in Sylvester's five sawmills and a component mill in Estonia and Latvia. The total investment will be EUR 50 million.
      "The Krustpils Sawmill will concentrate on European construction markets, complementing our product range in the timber frame business. It will also support the co-ordination our wood procurement, especially log supply, in the Baltic States together with Launkalne Sawmill in northern Latvia and Alytus Sawmill, which will start production in September 2003 in southern Lithuania," comments Peter Kickinger, Executive Vice President, Stora Enso Timber.
      The production capacity of the sawmill will be 350 000 cubic metres per year, of which 230 000 cubic metres will be planed and partly fingerjointed and strength graded. Construction of the sawmill will commence in December 2003, with start-up scheduled in November 2004. The Krustpils Sawmill will be part of Stora Enso Timber's Baltic Production Group.
      Stora Enso Timber is an international wood products company that provides customer-focused solutions to construction and joinery industries and the wood products trade worldwide. Its annual net sales are EUR 1.2 billion. Stora Enso Timber's total annual production capacity is 6.7 million cubic metres of sawn wood products, including 2.4 million cubic metres of value-added products. The company employs 4 600 people in 23 softwood sawmills and 18 further processing plants in nine European countries and its own sales and distribution companies throughout the world.
      Stora Enso is an integrated paper, packaging and forest products company producing publication and fine papers, packaging boards and wood products, areas in which the Group is a global market leader. Stora Enso sales totalled EUR 12.8 billion in 2002. The Group has some 42 500 employees in more than 40 countries in five continents and about 15 million tonnes of paper and board annual production capacity. Stora Enso's shares are listed in Helsinki, Stockholm and New York.
      CONTACT: Tim Laatsch, Senior Vice President, Communications, +1-715-422-4023, or Scott Deitz, Vice President, Investor Relations, +1-715-422-1521, both of Stora Enso North America
      Web site: http://www.storaenso.com

Baltic Sea countries sign declaration on environment
AP WorldStream Friday, August 29, 2003 12:08:00 PM
Copyright 2003 The Associated Press

      STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Ministers and government officials for 11 countries in Northern Europe on Friday agreed to improve the Baltic Sea environment in line with commitments made at last year's Johannesburg summit.
      The environment ministers of Sweden, Finland, Iceland and Russia joined government officials from Denmark, Norway, Germany, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in signing a declaration on environmental cooperation in Luleaa, in northern Sweden.
      The countries vowed to improve maritime safety in the Baltic Sea and establish a network of marine protected areas to preserve biological diversity, Swedish government spokesman Jon Kahn said.
      They also promised "special attention" to harmonizing environmental laws between the European Union and Russia.
      The agreements were part of a regional plan to implement environmental commitments at the World Summit for Sustainable Development, held in Johannesburg, South Africa last year, Kahn said.
      Poland and the Baltic states are expected to join the EU in 2004, making Russia the only nonmember around the Baltic Sea.

Latvia needs institutional reforms — World Bank
Reuters World Report Monday, September 01, 2003 12:55:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.
By Erik Brynhildsbakken

      RIGA, Sept 1 (Reuters) — Latvia needs deep and wide-ranging institutional reforms to continue its rapid economic expansion once it joins the European Union next May, a World Bank regional director said on Monday.
      Roger Grawes, World Bank Director for Central Europe and the Baltics, told Reuters in an interview that improvements were needed in management and cost control of the civil service, health care, social welfare and education.
      "I think Latvia is well-positioned to go forwards from here -- the openness of its economy and its flexibility will stand Latvia in good stead inside the EU just as for Latvia as an accession candidate,"
      "But no doubt there are challenges to accession, and foremost for a small country such as Latvia is the institutional challenge...(which) Latvian politicians need to come to grips with."
      Polls show around half the Latvian electorate plan to support EU entry in a September 20 referendum, with the "No" camp trailing at about 25 percent. Turnout is seen at close to 70 percent, way above a 50 percent turnout requirement.
      The vote is seen by many as the crowning of a decade of often painful reforms since Latvia regained independence from Moscow rule in 1991, and the pro-EU government says membership of the bloc will give a further boost to the fast growing economy.
      Latvia's gross domestic product rose 6.1 percent in 2002 and 8.8 percent in the first quarter this year, and Grawes said it showed how the small Baltic economy successfully exploited its position at the crossroads between East and West Europe.
      "The rather exceptional performance...of Latvia in the past two to three years, when the big economies of Europe have preformed in a lacklustre way at best, is testimony to that flexibility of the Baltic geopolitical environment," he said.
      LONG-TERM PLANNING NEEDED
      Grawes said a large part of the successful transition from a Soviet economy to an EU candidate was due to strict fiscal management and a stable national currency, the lats, giving domestic and foreign investors confidence in Latvia.
      He said politicans must now take the same long-term view on institutional reforms to provide more cost-effective and efficient welfare and health services, and upgrade the educational system to tackle the demands of a high-tech economy.
      Grawes also said Latvia could meet a serious challenge in balancing the need for low wage growth to maintain productivity growth and widespread expectations of rapidly rising living standards once inside the EU.
      "A sustained period of low wage growth is not what most people have in mind as a consequence of joining the EU," he said.
      But Grawes reckoned Latvia would have enough economic room for manoeuvre to keep productivity growing and see a steady rise in real wages if politicians kept to a long-term plan for social and economic development.
      "Within the EU, Latvia as a region will tend to grow faster, and ought to be able to keep a differential of between three to five percent (higher growth), he said, adding: "And if that is the case, I think convergence in about 25 years is feasible."

Smaller countries band together on EU constitution
Reuters World Report Monday, September 01, 2003 1:20:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      PRAGUE, Sept 1 (Reuters) — A group of 15 current and future European Union members agreed on Monday they wanted to change a proposed constitution to bolster the weight of smaller members in an enlarged bloc.
      The meeting, ahead of an intergovernmental conference on the constitution starting in October, showed the majority of the future union want to alter some aspects of the draft.
      The constitution aims to pull together various EU treaties and make the club more transparent and governable when it grows to 25 from 15 members next May.
      The Prague meeting grouped representatives from mostly small countries with similar views on the constitution.
      Czech State Secretary Jan Kohout said representatives agreed they wanted each EU country to have its own commissioner in the executive.
      That would alter the current proposal to cap the number of commissioners at 15 after 2009. Larger countries such as Germany want to keep the commission small to make it work effectively, but smaller countries fear they could be overlooked.
      Kohout also said delegates at the meeting wanted to ensure everyone would be fairly represented in the EU's bodies where members rotate, and wanted to make the constitution's wording clearer on that.
      But he said they accepted 90-95 percent of the proposed constitution and did not want to wreck the draft, prepared by a Convention led by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
      "There is a certain agreement, so it can be expected that in these areas, I don't want to say there will be common proposals, but certainly some synergy during the intergovernmental conference," Kohout said.
      Secretaries of State from Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Greece, Finland, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Ireland, Portugal, Slovenia as well as the Czech Republic attended the meeting.
      Some smaller countries also want the EU to keep its system of a rotating presidency instead of electing a chairman.
      They also want to alter the proposed voting system, under which decisions would be taken by a majority of countries representing at least 60 percent of the EU's population.
      The EU aims to wrap up talks in time to sign the constitution before next June's European Parliament election.

Latvia must say "Yes" to EU or turn East-Verheugen
Reuters World Report Wednesday, September 03, 2003 12:48:00 PM
Copyright 2003 Reuters Ltd.

      RIGA, Sept 3 (Reuters) — The European Union's Enlargement Commissioner said on Wednesday if Latvia rejected EU membership at a referendum it would have to turn to countries of the former Soviet Union it had broken with in the 1990s.
      A poll published on Wednesday showed Latvian support for joining the EU had slipped to 48.6 percent in the last week, less than three weeks before the small Baltic nation stages the last referendum of the EU's enlargement.
      A weekly survey by independent pollster InMind showed the "Yes" side lost one percentage point, while the nay-sayers gained 0.7 percentage points to 25.5 percent. More than 25 percent of voters were still undecided.
      "There are other alternatives to the EU, but no better alternative," Enlargement Commissioner Guenter Verheugen told reporters during a visit to Riga ahead of the September 20 vote.
      "If Latvia does not want to cooperate with the (European) Union, then the country would have to seek other cooperation partners such as Russia, Moldova and Belarus," he said.
      Many see membership in the wealthy bloc as the culmination of painful reforms towards mainstream Europe after Latvia broke away from Russian control after 50 years in 1991. The political and economic elite is campaigning hard for a "Yes," fearful of any realignment with poorer, less stable countries to the East.
      But others distrust the European Union just as they did Moscow's communist rulers, regarding Brussels as too remote to care for the interests of a nation of just 2.4 million people.
 

  Picture Album

As much as Peters always insists he has enough pictures of Old Riga in our photo boxes, somehow there's always room for more!

Old Riga
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