Dear Kyriakos, dear journalists,
Let me start by condemning the attacks against Israel and by offering my heartfelt condolence to the families and close ones of the victims. Estonia stands with Israel.
It is my great pleasure to be here in Athens. Estonia and Greece might be situated in different corners of Europe, you in south, we in the north, but we share a joint European home and common values. As small maritime nations located next to bigger neighbours, we are very similar and like-minded. We stand as strong allies in NATO and work together as good partners in the EU.
One area where we can do more together is digital cooperation where we both have big ambitions. For example, when you were in Estonia last November, we talked about mutual e-prescriptions and I’m glad there is good progress here. We can act fast, and this is to the benefit of our people.
We also need continued global and collective action on climate change. Sadly, Greece has been particularly affected this year. On behalf of the government and people of Estonia, I express our most sincere condolences to all those affected by these devastating fires and floods.
Estonia and Greece are both also EU border countries. Estonia will continue to support Greece’s police and border guard. For example, we have helped to secure the Greek sea border via FRONTEX for years and are one of the biggest contributors to these efforts per capita.
Greece gained independence 200 years ago, Estonia a century later. We both know first-hand that if you want freedom, you need to fight for it. Today, Ukraine is showing us the same thing. What is happening in Ukraine is black and white – there is one aggressor and one victim.
We know from our history that fighting for freedom and defending freedom is not escalation – it’s survival. That’s why we must continue to support Ukraine every way we can, including with military aid. Ukraine needs to win this war. Our primary focus should be on making sure that aggression ends in defeat. Any negotiated pause would only serve the Kremlin’s interest and give them time to rebuild and prepare its forces for future aggression.
I would like to thank Greece, and you personally, for your leadership in supporting Ukraine and for understanding the threat Russia poses for the whole free world.
Our reply to the aggression at the EU´s doorstep must be onefold – Russia is carrying out a war of attrition. There´s no speedy victory, so we should have a plan for a long struggle. Our strategic response must be to signal to Russia that we are not tired, that we´ll stand next to Ukraine until victory and we are ready to do it as long as it takes.
We must keep raising the price of aggression and limit Russia´s income to finance its war machine. That´s why our focus must be on stronger sanctions, including effective implementation and ending circumvention. Given Russia´s continued war crimes and mass atrocities, we must aim for a complete trade embargo on Russia. And we need to significantly restrict transit through Russia to third countries. The 12th EU sanctions package must deliver on this and several other elements.
We must also focus on accountability. This is the only way to stop Russia’s wars of aggression. After the Second World War we had tribunals of Tokyo and Nuremberg, but there was no Tribunal of Moscow for crimes of aggression and crimes of communist regime. Russia has drawn all the wrong conclusions from this.
And we cannot forget our own defence. Europe’s defence needs a truly decisive lift. We need to step up our combat effectiveness and we need deterrence credible enough to avoid war and stop Russia’s cycle of aggressions. For that we need increased defence budgets. We must close existing gaps in our capabilities and stockpiles. Estonia’s defence budget will exceed 3% of the GDP next year.
Thank you.
