1991-2011
A Baltic triumph
IQ THE ECONOMIST VILNIUS

Vilnius, September 1991: two young people remove Communist symbols from a building.
Photo: AFP/Virgis Usinavicius

In August 1991, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declared their independence from a collapsing USSR. Despite a few hiccups along the way, twenty years on they have definitively turned the page on Communism and come back to their roots in Europe.

Over the past two decades, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have turned out the big winners in a success story. Despite the realities that followed the crisis -- structural challenges such as corruption, pressures from interest groups and a lack of competitiveness at all levels -- the Baltic states have managed to catapult themselves out of the Soviet space. They are no longer the ‘post-Communist states’, but underdeveloped Western states sharing values, stereotypes, issues, standards and even eating habits that are becoming more and more like those of Westerners. 

These are the opening phrases from an article written by Mindaugas Jurkynas for IQ THE ECONOMIST. The article is recommended by VilNews. To read the full text, go to:
http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/article/872211-baltic-triumph