EU Leaders Lash Out at Methods of Demonstrators

Salvaging a summit marred by the worst violence to afflict Sweden in peacetime, European Union leaders Saturday promised Eastern European states aspiring to join the thriving alliance that they will be eligible in 2004.

The surprise agreement on a firm date for the start of enlargement was a last-minute victory for Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson, who had set that as the primary goal of his nation’s six-month term in the EU presidency.

But bloody outbursts by anti-globalization demonstrators that forced a veritable security invasion of this normally serene port seemed to overshadow the summit’s accomplishments and triggered angry condemnations by the leaders.

“This is nothing but an anarchists’ traveling circus that goes from summit to summit, coming to each one to cause as much trouble as possible,” British Prime Minister Tony Blair fumed. “Such protests must not and will not disrupt the workings of democratic institutions.”

Persson branded as “criminals” those few hundred protesters who resorted to hurling rocks, overturning cars and assaulting police officers, including one who was forced to shoot an attacker Friday to defend a downed colleague. The wounded protester was in critical condition after surgery at a local hospital to treat a bullet wound that pierced his liver and a kidney.

Violence has disrupted most major international gatherings since the 1999 World Trade Organization summit in Seattle, another placid and environmentally conscious city nonetheless targeted by roving extremists. But the severity of the clashes here and the turnout of an estimated 20,000 protesters caught organizers and law enforcement by surprise, as Sweden is renowned for its tolerance and pacifism.

Clearly shaken by the rioting that erupted after President Bush’s visit and escalated until the EU leaders had to hunker down inside their meeting location for their own safety, Persson conceded fears that the protests that have become a fixture at international meetings are discrediting the summits.

“Hopefully, this will not go in a wrong direction, but I am not at all sure,” Persson replied when asked if the unrest could undermine public support for strengthening European integration.

One reason the confrontations led to police using firearms is a prohibition against tear gas or water cannons in places where innocent bystanders are also vulnerable. A committee will be formed to weigh whether those restrictions should be changed, Persson said.

The violence prompted the peaceful majority of those who came to vent their grievances on every issue from the cost of AIDS medication to global warming to move their Saturday march from the city center to a park on Goteborg’s outskirts.

At least 65 people--mostly police officers--were hospitalized with injuries from the Friday melee, which led to more than 600 arrests.

Despite the backdrop of unrest, the summit was praised by officials of the candidate states for giving them encouragement to make the tough final steps to putting their legal, financial and social systems in sync with EU institutions.

“The absence of a target date would have been seen as diluting the prospect of membership,” Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, Poland’s minister for European affairs, said of the timeline laid out. He said it “motivated Poland to accelerate the membership negotiations.”

His Slovenian counterpart, Igor Bavcar, likewise praised the summit for advancing the expansion process. The EU leaders also promised the applicants that they will wrap up the talks on assimilation by the end of next year, so there will be adequate time for the existing members to hold national votes endorsing the expanded alliance.

France and Germany had been reluctant to fix entry dates for the aspiring states from Eastern and Southern Europe. They finally agreed early Saturday, apparently pacified by assurances that the 2004 date is an opportunity but not a guarantee. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder noted that the prospective members still need to meet entrance criteria and that their ability to do so might be affected by internal EU reforms, such as a new agricultural policy that will be decided next year.

The summit leaders repeatedly insisted that the enlargement process, which will eventually more than double the current 376 million population of the EU, is on track despite a June 7 “no” vote by Irish citizens on a December 2000 treaty signed in Nice, France, that paved the way for expansion.

“I don’t believe for one minute or one second that Ireland has voted against enlargement,” EU President Romano Prodi said. He plans to visit Ireland to help authorities there devise a campaign to sell Irish voters on the program before the treaty is put to another vote, probably next year.

Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Estonia began negotiations for EU membership in 1998, and last year they were joined by Malta, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania. Turkey is also considering a membership bid but is judged to be deficient in too many economic and social areas, including human rights protections, to qualify in the near future.