Stenbock House, 29 November 2016 – At today’s meeting with his Maltese colleague Joseph Muscat, Prime Minister Jüri Ratas said that Estonia will be following the Maltese presidency of the EU, which starts in one month, with great interest. Additionally, the Prime Minister hopes to cooperate closely with the island state in order to have a smooth handover of the presidency in July 2017.
“For both Malta and Estonia, this is the first opportunity for either of us to be the leading state of the European Union. Naturally, this is an assignment that entails a great responsibility for us both; and I am sure that, regardless of the modest size of our countries, we will successfully meet this challenge,” said Prime Minister Ratas.
In order for a smooth transition of the presidency to occur on 1 July 2017, a comprehensive cooperation is extremely important. Prime Minister Ratas expressed his hope that the Maltese leader will integrate the officials working on the Estonian presidency with his team as soon as possible, so they can participate in the management processes.
“The experience gained from the upcoming Maltese presidency and its success are definitely very important to us, because the better Malta succeeds the simpler it will be for Estonia,” Ratas added. “This is even truer because the main themes of our EU presidencies overlap to a great extent and include such topics as economic recovery, the labour market, security and safeguarding of EU citizens, as well as neighbourhood policy and migration issues.”
At the meeting, Prime Minister Muscat informed Prime Minister Jüri Ratas of the action plan for the Maltese presidency and the preparations underway for the EU summit that will take place in Malta in February. During the meeting, they discussed the European security situation and economy, and touched upon topical foreign policy issues.
Photos of the meeting: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/stn9vti5vmaxdac/AAAvf4R_HBTUs2ugWfoVqgnJa?dl=0