Latvia’s entry into the European Union may help the country to break the wall of isolation and gain access to Christian values. That’s why the bishops of Latvia support EU membership, calling it a “favourable and positive” step: that’s the view of Cardinal Janis Pujats, archbishop of Riga (the country’s capital). Latvia, with some 2,400,000 inhabitants, is one of the three Baltic states situated between Russia and the European Union. Annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940, the country regained its independence in 1991. “In the course of history says the archbishop our country has always considered itself a European country” and today, following independence, it wants “to form part of Europe anew”. But the signs of the former Communist regime are still much in evidence: according to the statistics, in fact, only a minority of the population declares itself Christian (16% Protestants, 14,9% Catholics, 8% Orthodox). What does Latvia expect from Europe? “First of all replies the archbishop the security of our country, as also its economic and agricultural development, trade and collaboration between countries, access to European culture and to the common market. The list of advantages could be continued. But the main reason why the Episcopal Conference of Latvia (4 dioceses, 243 parishes) supports the country’s entry into the EU, is the chance it offers of gaining access to Christian values, to reciprocal exchanges between countries that could strengthen our faith and our fidelity to the Gospel”. According to the Latvian episcopate, the entry of the candidate countries into the EU could determine “the elimination of the barriers between countries, the interaction between peoples and cultures, competition, reciprocal enrichment and cooperation”.
