RIGA, Sept 21: Leaders of the former Soviet republic of Latvia on Sunday hailed its return to Europe, after a vote that sealed the reunification of eastern and western Europe under the European Union’s roof next May.

Final official results from Saturday’s referendum showed Latvians had chosen overwhelmingly to join the bloc, with 67 per cent voting in favour, 32.3 per cent against, with the remaining votes declared invalid.

“We have begun a new phase in history,” pro-Western President Vaira Vike-Freiberga told a news conference.

“This has been the first time in the history of this nation that we have a free choice to decide in which direction we want our country to develop,” she said, in a reference to years of occupation, first by the Nazis and then the Soviets during and after World War II.

Congratulating Latvia on voting in favour of EU membership, European Commission President Romano Prodi said Europeans would now be motivated to work “even harder” to unite the continent.

Strong support for the EU only emerged at the eleventh hour in Latvia, a country of 2.3 million people which had been considered one of the most eurosceptical of the 10 EU members-in-waiting, and was the last to put joining the bloc to a referendum.

In a sign of the cliffhanger once anticipated, electoral commission head Arnis Cimdars told a news conference what had been his worst fear:

“The situation I was afraid of, that it was 50 against 50, has not taken place,” he said.

“Now I can congratulate Latvia on being in Europe.”—AFP