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“The Report by the European Commission on Lithuania’s possibilities to join the EU by 2004 is welcome news, also an evaluation of efforts of all Lithuania’s people. However, it does not mean we may put our feet up. We are in the finishing stretch of negotiations: in order to complete it successfully Lithuania has still got to accomplish a lot of tasks”, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis noted commenting on the Progress Report published on 9 October by the European Commission. In its fifth Report since 1997, the European Commission has given a positive evaluation to Lithuania’s efforts in striving for EU membership and recommended the European Council Summit to conclude negotiations with Lithuania and other nine candidates (Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia) by the end of this year in order to sign with them Accession Treaties in spring 2003. The European Commission noted that Lithuania had met the political and economic criteria for EU membership. The minister called very important a repeated confirmation by the European Commission that on the principle of solidarity the European Union was ready to continue additional assistance for decommissioning of the Ignalina NPP and elimination of the consequences. “We should more clearly define our arguments and figures and come to the conclusive financial agreement. The nearest few weeks will be crucial”, the chief of Lithuanian diplomacy stated. The European Commission reminded the candidate countries the requirements and conditions for introduction of the common currency – the euro – and accession to the Schengen Agreement. The commission stressed that accession both to the Euro zone and the Schengen Area would depend on individual efforts of each current candidate country. Accession of new members to the Schengen Area will be decided upon only some time after the EU enlargement; a separate decision is to be taken for each individual country. “Deliberating the issue of transit from and to Kaliningrad, we should pay special attention to the latter statement. I am not prepared to make experiments with the Schengen”, – the head of Lithuanian MFA underscored. According to Minister Valionis, “the possibly soonest accession to the Schengen Area is Lithuania’s most obvious interest.” The Minister noted that after stepping into the finishing stretch of negotiations intensive work awaits ahead in order to solve all extremely important strategic and financial issues related to quotas of agricultural produce, direct payments to farmers, financing of the Ignalina NPP decommissioning, sales of agricultural land to foreigners and contribution to the EU budget. The Progress Report by the European Commission underscores that the candidate states should fulfil their obligations undertaken during negotiations before their accession to the EU with the exception of chapters stipulating agreed transitory periods, while the European Commission would further carry on its supervision of the implementation of commitments. Six months to go before the determined entry date, the Commission will draft a separate Report on the fulfilment of the negotiated obligations. The chief of Lithuanian diplomacy drew attention to the statement in the Progress Report by the European Commission reading that in spite of evident headway towards EU membership, Lithuania must take additional measures in such areas as strengthening the administrative and judicial capacity, implementation of the public administration reform, management and control of public funds, expenditure arrears, preparation for administering the EU’s structural and cohesion funds, creation of favourable business environment, border protection. The Commission also drew Lithuania’s attention to the high unemployment rate in the country, the necessity to complete the pension reform and to step up further the fight against corruption. “Addressing these problems is our State’s absolute priority. First of all, it is in Lithuania’s own interest,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Antanas Valionis said.