Analytics, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Legislation

The report compiled by the European Policy Center offers a so-called win-win scenario in security, economic, social and migration questions, which would benefit both the European Union as a whole as well as the member states separately. The report also mentions that in order to act successfully, the suggestions should be followed as quickly as possible.

This is the third and last report of NPE's initiative, which compiles the suggestions made in 120 discussions organized in 17 EU member states since 2013. Expert groups from 10 member states across Europe had a key role to play in 2016-2017 in order to reach concrete suggestions -- from Estonia, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Germany, Belgium, France, Portugal, Italy and Greece. A couple dozen experts from different walks of life participated in each discussion. Those who gathered around discussion tables included leaders of non-governmental organizations, citizen activists, researchers, journalists and politicians. In addition to one joint final report, all member states also drew up their own summaries.

"Today's European Union is a massive and complicated structure, where great effort must be made for reaching joint consensual solutions and involving various interest groups. Nevertheless, the New Pact for Europe discussion series as a model is a very good example of how it is possible to find common ground concerning the future of Europe from the bottom up and by focusing on solutions," Mall Hellam, head of the Open Estonia Foundation who led the process in Estonia, said.

The discussion organized by the foundation brings together competent experts both from Estonia and elsewhere. The report will be presented by European Policy Center's analyst Yann-Sven Rittelmeyer. It will be followed be a debate with speakers including Peter Kreko, analyst and head of the Political Capital think tank, Kristi Raik, who from the beginning of February will start heading the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute that is past of the International Center for Defense and Security, Hannes Rumm, adviser at the Estonian Foreign Ministry and former head of the European Commission representation in Estonia, and journalist Ahto Lobjakas. The moderator of the debate through the Open Estonia Foundation is Andrei Liimets, who coordinated the NPE project.

Partners of the project are several large foundations that stand for European values and civic education, like the Bertelsmann Foundation, King Baudouin Foundation, BMW Foundation Herbert Quandt, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Open Society Foundations.

The event will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the European Union House and will be conducted in English and without synchronized translation. Live coverage will be available from the website of the daily Postimees.