Baltic States – CIS, Energy, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation

Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Taavi Roivas. Tallinn, 27.05.2016. Photo: valitsus.ee

Roivas said Estonia will go to the NATO Warsaw summit in July with the clear position that the decisions to be made at the summit must not remain one-off emergency measures but must become entrenched as a permanent policy of the alliance, spokespeople for the Estonian government said.

"We have two goals in Warsaw. First, to perpetuate the activities agreed on at the Wales summit in September 2013, according to which presence of NATO is the new normal, and second, that the presence of allied troops in Estonia would increase," he said.

"NATO is a defense organization. The activity of NATO is not directed against anyone," Roivas said.

Speaking about the European security situation, Roivas said that violations of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine have again become more frequent. "Ceasefire and abidance by the Minsk agreements is a precondition for making the next steps in relations with Russia," Roivas said.

Another topic talked about at the meeting was the Nord Stream 2 (NS2) underwater gas pipeline. "In the opinion of Estonia this is a political project that runs counter to the energy policy goals of the European Union," Roivas said. "In our opinion NS2 is a part of the ambition of the foreign policy of Russia to undermine the unity of Europe."

On the subject of the migrant crisis and the Commission's recent proposals as regards automatic redistribution of asylum seekers, the Estonian prime minister said that as all countries have voluntarily taken on the obligation to help, creating mandatory solutions does not make sense.

"Proposals like this may upset the already fragile balance and undermine the unity of the European Union," he said.

"I continue to believe that the European Union must support the neighboring countries of Syria: Lebanon and Jordan. By seeing to the living conditions of the refuges who have arrived in these countries we will prevent the crisis from escalating," Roivas said.

Speaking of Eastern Partnership, the prime minister said that when Georgia and Ukraine have met all conditions for visa-freedom there must be no subjective additional criteria.

Roivas also spoke about his impressions from the meeting of the German government on Tuesday, which he attended at the invitation of Chancellor Angela Merkel to speak about the Estonian e-government. The prime minister once again reaffirmed Estonia's readiness to share its experience in e-governance.