Brussels - Slovakia and Latvia cleared a key political hurdle in their application to join the EU yesterday when they wrapped up negotiations on the issue of free movement of workers. Sweden, which holds the EU Presidency, hailed their progress as proof that latecomers to membership talks could catch up and overtake so-called frontline candidates.
Slovakia, Latvia and Lithuania belong to the so-called second tier of candidates which began accession talks in 2000, two years after countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic.
