Prime Minister Kaja Kallas says that in the face of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine, a number of important agreements proposed by Estonia have been made. “They include the EU’s decisions to supply the Ukrainians with a million artillery shells, to confer candidate country status on both Ukraine and Moldova and to set a price cap on crude oil from Russia,” she said. “Our visibility and our influence grow when we think big, take an innovative approach to situations and can get other Member States’ support for our initiatives.”
The head of government added that Estonia advocates the elimination of grey zones in Europe. “We support the step-by-step integration of the economies of the candidate countries into the single market,” she explained. “Given the changed security situation, we must boost the EU’s crisis-readiness, shore up its defensive capabilities and guarantee a combat-effective Europe. There are areas in which the EU economy depends on third countries, such as certain technologies and natural resources. We must work to ensure that the union can rely on itself and trusted partners in those areas. We must also improve connections in the fields of energy, transport and communications in the EU and within our region as a whole.”
Foreign affairs, security and defence issues are at the heart of Estonia’s EU priorities, including enhanced crisis-readiness, effective border and migration policies and sustainable development and competitiveness, which involves focussing on the green and digital transitions and energy security. Matters pertaining to health, buildings and connections and the principles of open governance and the personalised state are also covered in the priorities.
Estonia is working to ensure that the principles of the free market economy are at the heart of the implementation of the green and digital transitions, as well as an efficiently operating internal market in which state-aid exceptions affecting it must be eliminated and the administrative and reporting burden must be reduced. The transition to renewable energy has also been prioritised, as has the free movement of goods, services, people, data and capital. Moreover, the framework document highlights the need to streamline the EU’s budgetary regulations and to boost energy, transport and communications links.
In the coming period, with EU support, Estonia will continue to invest in its energy security, implementing the synchronisation of the Baltic electricity networks with the frequency area of Central Europe as soon as possible and continuing to develop offshore wind energy. Furthermore, it is important that the construction of Rail Baltic be completed by 2030. EU funds must first and foremost be invested in projects which will benefit the union as a whole, whether it be the construction of cross-border infrastructure, the reinforcement of the union’s external border or the development of public digital services. Estonia is doing everything it can to ensure that the decision-making process within the EU is transparent and inclusive for everyone involved and that the transposing of legal acts into national legislation is restricted, in general, to that which is agreed upon.
