Agriculture, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Markets and Companies

“Estonian farmers have to be treated to those of other countries in the European Union,” said Ansip. Estonian farmers get only 44 per cent of the average grants per hectare in the EU.

The head of the Estonian Government also noted that sufficient resources will have to be allocated for the EU cohesion policies as it would help enhance the level of welfare in less developed regions and to recover from economic decline.

When commenting on the conclusions reached at the summit that EU resources will have to be used wisely and investments will have to be directed towards guaranteeing economic growth, Ansip stated, “This means that the budget will have to support all of the activities that would help increase the employment rate and enhance economic growth and improve European Union’s competitiveness.”

Estonia supports the position that the use of structural funds’ resources would in future be linked to the economic policy recommendations issued to each Member State by the European Commission.

Estonia is of the position that a better functioning common internal market is an important factor of economic growth in the European Union – such as the opportunity of enterprises to provide services without any administrative hindrances across the European Union. It is also important to proceed quickly with creating a single market for digital services as this would promote e-commerce and cross-border use of services.