Editorial: Baltic purposes and Lithuanian interests

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Photo: Urmas Luik / Pärnu Postimees

Rail Baltica, a dream that might materialise by support of the Brussels purse, has hit a new and somewhat unexpected obstacle.

No longer is it the environmental or cost/benefit studies, overly much hurry, the Pärnu-Tartu differences or protesting villagers. This time, the stone rolled on the tracks is bigger, threatening to derail the entire plan. All signs point to Lithuania, a needed link in the Baltic trio’s joint company, intent on putting the brakes on the project.

The project has never been Estonia’s alone. The knowledge that the new and faster railway connection would tie together the three Baltic States (and, indirectly, Finland and Poland as well, also showing interest towards the idea), relieves us of the need to make the project pay off economically – and fast; some advantages, like closer ties between neighbours, cannot be measured in money. At the same time, we find ourselves tied to the choices of other countries. In the Lithuanian case, the choices seem to boil down to other criteria than we were able (or willing) to foresee.

In his story today, Mikk Salu of Postimees explains the motives Lithuania may have in orchestrating delays. Citing different issues (local law not allowing joint company; Vilnius may not miss the railway, all of the sudden; debates on wordings; Lithuanian prime minister demanded to head the company) Lithuania is drifting away from the goals of the common endeavour – for economic reasons mainly, it seems.

Lithuanian Railways, whose interests matter to Lithuanian government and its transport minister, is interested in carriage of goods on the East-West direction, not North and South. Nothing doing: in this context, Rail Baltica looks unimportant. Having not much leverage to impact Lithuania, all Estonia can do is remind her of moral obligations taken by a former «yes». While Estonian-Latvian-Lithuanian talks tended to happen once a month, now the events are weekly. Still, there’s no notable progress; creation of a joint company, supposed to take place at the beginning of 2014, has come to appear as a thing for the indefinite future.

The time is ticking away. This is big money... and big money always has the eye of many others. Missing the deal with Lithuania, this budget’s EU money may find some other project, Rail Baltica thus thrown into the realm of the unknown.

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