Today in Kadriorg, President Lennart Meri received the Prime Minister of Ireland Bertie Ahern, who arrived in Estonia on an official visit. In the meeting main attention was paid to issues related to the expansion of the European Union.

The Prime Minister of Ireland emphasised that Ireland wishes to offer assistance to Estonia and to share her experience in the process of joining the European Union. Besides the common goals in European integration our countries share a similar history full of civil convulsions and geographically both countries are tightly related to a large neighbour, said Prime Minister Ahorn.

The Prime Minister said that Ireland has achieved great progress after joining the EU 25 years ago. In addition to economic progress the identity of the Irish people is also on a path of progress and inside the EU it is even stronger than before the joining. Ahorn explained that the British influence that dominated earlier has been replaced with European influence. The Prime Minister of Ireland believes that Estonia has a lot to gain by integration into the European Union.

President Meri was pleased with the success achieved in the Irish peace process, at the same time efforts should be made not to lose any of the ground already gained, added the President of Estonia.

In the meeting President Meri also emphasised the role of small states in influencing political tendencies. In the expansion process of the European Union, small states like Estonia and Ireland can and must work together.

The Prime Minister of Ireland intends to visit all the countries who started negotiations to join the European Union.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, April 27, 1998

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