A referendum on

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

membership was held in Latvia on 20 September 2003. Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1122 Latvia was the last of the states which would join the EU in 2004 to hold a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

on the issue. Just over two-thirds of voters voted Yes and Latvia joined the EU on 1 May 2004.

Background

Latvia was invited to begin negotiations to join the EU in 1999 and was formally invited to join at a summit in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

in December 2002. On 27 December 2002 the Latvian government decided to hold a referendum on 20 September 2003 on joining the EU. In May 2003 the

Parliament of Latvia The Saeima () is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vo ...

amended the

Constitution of Latvia The Constitution of Latvia ( lv, Satversme) is the fundamental law of the Republic of Latvia. Satversme is the oldest Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-functioning republican basic law in the ...

to allow referendums on international matters. Campaigning began on 5 May 2003.

Referendum question

The question voted on in the referendum was: ''Do you support the membership of Latvia in the European Union?''

Campaign

Latvia was seen as being one of the more skeptical countries on joining the European Union, but polls in the years before the referendum consistently showed an advantage for supporters of EU accession. Only one

opinion poll An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinion ...

in February 2002 showed opponents of membership in the lead. Support for membership rose during the campaign with over 50% expected to support membership as the referendum neared. Supporters of joining the EU included the coalition government and the business community. They argued that this would give access to EU markets and development aid. They also stressed that membership would provide protection from pressure from

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. In the last few weeks the Yes campaign launched an advertising campaign with the slogan "Don’t stay aside!” The No campaign argued that Latvia should not surrender the sovereignty they had recently gained from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. They also suggested that Latvia would suffer economically as the poorest of the candidate countries. Generally opposition was higher among southeastern regions of Latvia with a large ethnic Russian population.

Results

The results saw the highest turnout of any of the

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an countries holding referendums in 2003 and well above the 35% required in order to make the referendum binding. The Yes vote was ahead in 30 of the 34

electoral districts An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

with the highest Yes vote among Latvians abroad with over 90% supporting membership. The highest No vote was in the poorer east of Latvia, especially where there were significant numbers of ethnic Russians.

Reactions

The Prime Minister of Latvia,

Einars Repše Einars Repše (born 9 December 1961) is a Latvian physicist, financier and politician, chairman of the Association for Latvian Development. Biography Einars Repše graduated from Latvia State University (now known as University of Latvia) in ...

, celebrated the result with 2,000 young people in Riga. He put a blue EU

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on and said that "Latvians understand this is a decisive moment!" The President of Latvia,

Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga (born 1 December 1937) is a Latvian politician who served as the sixth President of Latvia from 1999 to 2007. She is the first woman to hold the post. She was elected President of Latvia in 1999 and re-elected for the seco ...

, described the result as "wiping out forever the divisions on the map of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

that the odious

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that enabled those powers to partition Poland between them. The pact was signed in Moscow on 23 August 1939 by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ri ...

of 1939 placed here."

References

{{Latvian elections Latvia Referendums in Latvia Referendums related to European Union accession 2003 in Latvia 2003 in international relations 2003 in the European Union Latvia and the European Union