ABSTRACT
The slogan “Back to Europe” provides a suitably ambiguous template upon which the competing aspirations of the ten central and east European applicant states can be bolted. For all three Baltic states, it is the security benefits flowing from EU integration that are perceived to be paramount, and EU integration has primarily been viewed by the Baltic political elites as a medium-term security generator. This was evident when Agenda 2000, presented to the European Parliament in July 1997, recommended that Estonia alone among the three Baltic states be invited to participate in the first round of negotiations in 1998: in both Riga and Vilnius the Commission’s recommendation was received as a traumatic shock by the political elites. Such a reaction to the decision to delay negotiations (though not necessarily membership itself) underscores the fact that early EU membership had been invested with a greater value and significance within the Baltic region than in other CEE regions. Why was this? What was particular to the Baltic region or to the Baltic states themselves which placed such importance on the necessity of rapid and complete integration into the EU?
