EU hopes loud Lithuania 'Yes' wakes up neighbours

The European Union said yesterday it hoped Lithuania's loud "Yes" to EU entry would rouse apathetic East European neighbours to hold referendums on joining.

The Baltic republic's election committee said that with all votes from the weekend poll counted, 91.0 percent favoured the union. That beat all forecasts after naysayers stayed home in a failed attempt to keep the turnout under the required 50 percent.

The huge "Yes" vote completes the ex-Soviet republic's return to mainstream Europe after more than a decade of reforms.

The European Commission hailed the vote, saying the scale of its "Yes" would boost Lithuania's role in an enlarged EU.

"Welcome Lithuania!... It is encouraging for all of us to see such enthusiasm for EU accession," said Guenter Verheugen, EU Commissioner for Enlargement, who oversaw the accession talks with the 10 candidates that ended last December.

The Commission, the EU's executive arm, hopes the strong Lithuanian result will help boost the referendum campaigns in neighbouring Poland and the more Eurosceptic Baltic republics of Latvia and Estonia.

"This should encourage people in my country... to follow our Lithuanian neighbours," Estonian Foreign Minister Kristiina Ojuland said in Stockholm.

"The vote is a message sent to our public opinion from our Lithuanian neighbours," Latvian Foreign Minister Sandra Kalniete told Reuters during a visit to Norway.

Lithuania's pro-EU political elite led a frantic campaign urging people to vote, with near panic among some politicians after lacklustre voting on Saturday. But numbers of votes cast jumped around midday on Sunday and ended at about 64 percent.

Lithuania is one of 10 mostly ex-communist states hoping to join the EU and the fourth hopeful to vote in favour of joining the wealthy club after Malta, Slovenia and Hungary all voted "Yes" earlier this year.

With the turnout hurdle comfortably passed, hundreds of Lithuanians rushed out to the streets to toast their "return to Europe".

"Earlier, we feared it could flop on low turnout, but now we're all happy and full of energy," said student Liutauras Kazlavickas.

Many see the Lithuania poll as a critical test ahead of referendums in Slovakia next week and Poland in June, which have similar turnout requirements and struggle with voter apathy.