Latvia: Supporting the Right Cause and Deepening the Economic and Monetary Union Building Bridges Paper Series
Latvia’s benefits to the EU have been clear. It has boosted the modernisation of the country and its infrastructures via the Cohesion Funds. It has helped reconnect the country with the West. And it has served to provide security to Latvia, especially vis-à-vis Russia.
Criticism regarding the EU has risen. The reasons are threefold. For some, lack of clarity of the EU project has generated unrealistic expectations of the gains that the EU membership would bring to the economy. By others, the EU’s handling of current crises is perceived as ineffective. But generally, the original accession idealism has given way to more pragmatic views on the EU.
Latvia feels that integration within the Eurozone has intensified for good reasons – and the country remains supportive of being part of the core. Yet, the EU should now improve its capacity to face threats, such as cross-border crime and terrorism, and exceptional situations, such as the refugee crisis.
This publication is part of the "Building Bridges Paper Series". For more information about this project, click here.