EU accession, NATO and agricultural policy discussed at Vilnius meeting

The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia discussed the issues of NATO and European Union (EU) accession during Friday's meeting in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. Polish President Aleksander Kwaoniewski expressed his full support for NATO expansion, saying that further NATO enlargement will finally free Europe of divisions which originated with the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact. With respect to EU accession, all presidents agreed that the most important and, at the same time, troublesome negotiations have to do with farming. Kwaoniewski emphasized that agricultural modernization is inevitable in all four countries regardless of EU accession. Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said that only the strongest and best-prepared farmers would survive the impending changes. (Rzeczpospolita, March 23-24, p. A4) M.T.K.