'Baltic Tiger' wants to follow Irish model

COUNTRY PROFILE/Lithuania: Lithuanians will be looking to move on from a few dramatic months of political triumph and turmoil when they go to the polls in June.

Six weeks after joining the EU, this nation of 3.5 million will simultaneously elect its first members of the European Parliament and a new president after Mr Rolandas Paksas was ousted amid lurid allegations of links to the Russian mafia.

Some 244 candidates from 13 parties are contesting 13 seats in Brussels, and surveys suggest the joint poll could bring 80 per cent of voters to the ballot box.

Rapid reform has given Lithuania one of the fastest-growing economies in Europe, and politicians cite Ireland's success at utilising EU funds as an inspiration for their own plans to turn a post-Soviet success story into a "Baltic Tiger".

A determination to maximise the benefits of EU membership prompted 12 political parties to agree last week to work in unison in Brussels should their candidates win election, and their priorities broadly reflect the issues dominating the campaign.

Many of those issues are coloured by 50 years of Soviet occupation, and by historical sensitivities heightened by the influence Russian organised crime groups and security services allegedly gained over Mr Paksas.

Russia still dominates its neighbour's energy sector, controlling gas supplies that will become even more vital with the gradual shutdown of the Ignalina nuclear power plant, which a safety-conscious Brussels wants fully closed by 2010. Lithuania's biggest oil complex only takes Russian crude and is run by Yukos, a Russian firm in danger of being dismantled or seized by the Kremlin after a legal onslaught against owners and officials.

Lithuanians want their MEPs, therefore, to push the EU to unhook them from Moscow-centric infrastructure and link them to continental power and transport networks.

Surveys also show that Lithuanians want the EU to speed their accession into the Schengen treaty on passport-free travel in the bloc, to boost investment and monitoring of the EU's external borders, and to encourage stability and security with Russia.

And they want their MEPs to make sure the EU not only finances key social and economic projects, but also helps create structures to prevent money being lost to the corruption that still blights the country.

That corruption was at the centre of the scandal that engulfed Mr Paksas, who was impeached for giving citizenship to a Russian businessman in return for funding and later tipping him off that he was under surveillance, and for meddling in a privatisation deal.

The only group not to sign the joint declaration on co-operation was the National Progress Party.

One of its leaders, Mr Rolandas Paulauskas, said it was vital for Lithuania's Eurosceptics to have a voice in Brussels.

"If we just elect the people who have led us to the European Union for 12 years, then we will not have access to accurate information about what is going on there," he said.

Lithuania: by the numbers

Electorate: 2.5 million

Seats contested: 13

Likely turnout: This is Lithuania's first election to the European Parliament. A recent survey suggested turnout could be as high as 80 per cent. If so, that would represent a very substantial increase on the October 2000 general election, which saw a turnout of 55.9 per cent.