Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,

The beginning European Union Summit has a historic importance for Estonia and for Europe. I will concentrate on the future, on how we are to proceed after Nice - after a successful summit.

Thus, how to proceed?

The schedule for enlargement has already been set as a result of political decisions and of all activities to date. This is the year 2003. It is important that candidate countries that are ready will actually accede to the Union in 2003, thus ensuring a belief in Europe's political will to unite. Thereby two basic principles that have been followed during this enlargement will have been met. First, the principle of inclusiveness, which is a political decision. Second, the individual treatment of applicants, which means the implementation of the political decision in accordance with the accession criteria.

This is not a race between candidate countries. Each country has chosen the content and the speed of its own reforms, approaching the European Union according to its possibilities. It is important that the states that have implemented radical reforms would be justly assessed by the European Union.

Such an approach will ensure the dynamics of the enlargement process. But what is even more important, it will ensure the credibility of the European Union enlargement in the eyes of the public. Enlargement will proceed on a basis that is intelligible to everyone. Because, my dear colleagues, in nearly all member and candidate countries we are faced with difficulties in public support. Here, I would like to quote the words of Jerôme Monot and Ali Magoudi: ''Today, the European Union is neither a republic nor a monarchy, neither a state nor an empire. This absence of formal definition constitutes a major obstacle for defining a sovereign power that makes its own currency, even its own diplomacy, that is building an army and shaping economic and trade policies on a global level''. The people see this summit, as well as the intergovernmental conference as developments going on above their heads. Therefore, we find ourselves in a situation where the need to guarantee the development of the European Union presents new challenges to each one of us. No one is given the chance to take ''time off'' and rest on his laurels. Be it in the economic, political or security field, or in the social and environmental plane. ''The citizens' fear to lose their national individuality will disappear when new things are given names as soon as they take shape,'' - if I dare to quote the thoughts of Monot and Magoudi again.

Yet there is nothing surprising in the fact that such ''new things'' are not greeted with equal enthusiasm by everyone. Neither were other enlargements in the past greeted with cheers; there were fears of mass migrations, devastating costs, of a weakening of the European Union. These fears proved to be groundless then, and will be groundless also as concerns the current enlargement. In fact, all the candidate countries represented here have undergone impressive developments during the last decade. And we can presume that this development will continue. It is our duty as politicians to understand the people and their hesitations in our more and more complex world. On the one hand, we must understand these hesitations; on the other hand, our common conviction and resolve must help to overcome them. This is our responsibility - the renewal of Europe is not an objective in itself, it is Europe's response to the challenges posed by a changing world. Enlargement is the objective of Europe, the process is indeed the aim, because there will never be a completed Europe, a ready-to-wear Europe.

I would like to finish with the words of Victor Hugo, spoken more than 150 years ago, on August 21, 1849: ''From now on, the goal of great politics, the real politics, is to achieve recognition for all peoples, to re-establish their historical unity and to adjoin it to civilisation in a peaceful manner.''

Ladies and gentlemen,
We have this opportunity now.
Let us use it.

Thank you.

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