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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Three former Soviet Union republics, now EU members, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, can become new overheated economies and residential real estate markets if their plans of becoming Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) members are materialized. What they need now is more financial stability and even lower interest rates, two elements that EMU can provide to all its members. It won't be an exaggeration saying that these countries may become like Ireland. In fact, they are the only new EU countries that have the potential from a relatively low starting point to catch up soon economically with the old EU members and even to overcome some of them.

With economic growth of 7-8% annually they are already European champions. Some of them manage to do it without excessive inflation. Latvia so far lags behind the other two, but the taming inflation there is also within a reach. The small and ready to occupy any new market niche countries are booming when the rest of Europe is still struggling to recover from years of depression.

In 2004 all three countries became EU members. For them this means many things, some of them are important for the purpose of this analysis: the capital movements with other EU states had to be completely liberalized; the labor was allowed to work in some older EU countries pending the complete liberalization due by 2011; when ready, they could apply for EMU membership, another step in the European integration, usually associated with the common currency Euro.

All these factors combined with the tiny population played major role in accelerating and keeping the economic development on higher gear. The free movement of labor moved thousands out, easing the burden on the social systems and pushing higher the wages, which are among the fastest growing in the world. The free movement of capitals provided enormous momentum for new investments and appreciation of the physical capital, including in the real estate. The prospects to join the EMU are the strongest signal that this prosperity fever may continue in the years to come.

What the EMU can bring to these three countries? It will provide a framework for financial stability. The countries inside the EMU can move up faster without concerns about higher inflation, because the financial markets won't punish them, as they don't punish a particular US state that moves up much faster, because the interest rates within the United States as well as within the Eurozone are the same. It will be Germany, which is at the core of the Eurozone that will provide this stability at lowest possible interests.

Once within the EMU, two of them hope to achieve this by 2007 and one by 2008, these three former Soviet Union nations will be able to play the Irish way of development by slashing on the taxes and using the EU regional funds as additional boosters for economic growth. No doubt the older EMU members won't be delighted to see this. On the other hand, their arsenal for sanctions will be heavily reduced given that many of them have already gone beyond the restrictive framework imposed to them by the Eurozone criteria. Additional argument not to block these overheated economies will be that by creating many new jobs these countries are making senseless any further emigration, as is the case with Ireland. They may one day even become new destinations for immigration within the EU

If now, with all remaining financial restrictions, these countries can grow annually by 7-8%, we can only speculate what may come once they are allowed unrestricted access to cheap credits guaranteed by Germany.

Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) profiles:

• Area: 65,200 sq km; 64,589 sq km; 45,226 sq km.
• Population: 3.6 million; 2.2 million; 1.3 million (July 2006 est.).
• Population growth: -0.30%; -0.67%; -0.64% (2006 est.)
• Net migration rate: -0.71; -2.26; -3.2 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2006 est.)
• GDP per capita: purchasing power parity $13,700; $13,000; $16,400 (2006 est.).
• GDP real growth: 6.4%; 8.3%; 7.4% (2005 est.)
• Internet users: 968,000; 810,000; 670,000.

(Source: CIA The World Factbook 2006, Reuters)

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See also the directory of companies providing real estate services in, and general real estate information of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.