A rejection by Ireland of the Nice Treaty should not be interpreted as a rejection of EU enlargement, said Estonia's chief negotiator to the EU. But Mr Alar Streimann said a No vote would encourage Estonians who oppose joining the EU.
"I wouldn't say that people would automatically perceive it as a No to enlargement. The dominant feeling would be that something must be wrong with the European Union if the Irish would prefer to say no," he said.
Mr Streimann was speaking in advance of a visit to Estonia today by the President, Mrs McAleese. He said Ireland's economic success since joining the EU made Estonians sensitive to Irish views on Europe.
An opinion poll published this week showed that 53 per cent of Estonians oppose joining the EU, with only 36 per cent in favour of membership.
On the substance of the Nice Treaty, Mr Streimann said it satisfied most of Estonia's concerns but, for the candidate countries, the most important point was that obstacles to enlargement should be removed.
Estonia's population is just 1.4 million, but Mr Streimann believes that the treaty provides safeguards to avoid creating an EU dominated by big countries.
"There is always an anxiety on the part of small states that they will be dominated by larger countries. We have to be very careful about what will be the outcome of the debate on Europe's future," he said.
Estonia's energetic pace of reform has placed it among the front-runners for EU membership. But many blame the race to join for their government's harsher economic policies.
Estonia's economy has recovered after the shock of the Russian crash in 1998 that sent the whole region into recession. Unemployment runs at almost 14 per cent, but GDP grew by almost 7 per cent last year and Moscow's decision to drop trade tariffs should boost exports.
Russia imposed punitive tariffs on Estonian goods because of concern over Tallinn's treatment of its Russian minority. About 40 per cent of Tallinn's population is Russian. Community relations have improved, but many Russians remain non-citizens who are not allowed to vote in national elections.
Estonia's primary anxiety in its negotiations for EU membership is that it will have to wait until its neighbours, Lithuania and Latvia, are ready to join too.
