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President of the Republic at the Danish Foreign Policy Society
04.08.1997

Estonia and the Integration of Europe


Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am standing here, first and foremost, to express gratitude. To thank the Danish people, the Danish Parliament, Danish political parties and the Danish Government for the strong support given from the very beginning to Estonia and our Baltic fellows sharing our fate.

Seven years ago I came to Denmark for the first time with my Soviet passport allowing me leave Tallinn in one pocket and my Estonian passport, issued by the Consulate General of the Republic of Estonia in New York and allowing me to enter Denmark in the other pocket. This could be the shortest summary of the transition period as it is called in Estonia and the shortest introduction to our friendship with Uffe Elleman-Jensen, who has invited me here again today. I feel myself at home in Denmark and I see Uffe Elleman-Jensen, honorary member of Tartu University, as my schoolmate. I have time and again used his quotations. Let me begin today's presentation with one particularly appropriate: ''A country opening into the sea cannot be a small country''.

The recent NATO summit in Madrid validated the sentence once more. In early spring I mentioned to one of the journalists that there were at least two countries in the world believing that Estonia would accede to NATO: Russia and Denmark. The final declaration of the Madrid Summit, debated all night long does not exclude this possibility any more. Once again Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are indebted to Denmark and Norway. Large countries would not have managed without the principled stand of small ones. In this context I would like to underline President Clinton's decision to pay a post-Madrid visit to Copenhagen and especially his words here: ''Building a bridge across the Baltic Sea you have bridged the historic gap.'' What could be a better proof of the historic role of a small nation compared to superpowers?

Ladies and gentlemen! The small nations of the world are only just discovering their strength and power. Estonia's self-discovery, Baltic states' self-discovery - both are inseparable from Europe discovering itself.

Seven years ago I said that the Baltic states have started their way back home, to Europe. Today I would like to specify: it is first and foremost Europe's journey home. Europe is returning to the areas from where it had quietly and unblushingly retreated; from where it had receded painstakingly attempting to justify its retreat thereafter. You go back from your principles once, you go back always.

The indivisibility of security and democracy, security as a price of democracy, democracy as a precondition of security - this is the new experience we take to the new millennium.

Member states of the European Union have established stable peace among themselves. If the world consisted only of the EU member states, they could disband their armies. Conflicts, should they arise, could be resolved without applying force. The stable period of peace in the European Union is based on four factors:

Firstly, on common European culture as a roof under which we all live;

Secondly, on democratic political systems supported by tolerance and readiness for compromise;

Thirdly, on symmetric dependability, or simply on economic interdependability based on mutual prosperity, and

Fourthly, on interstate solidarity joining the members of the European Union into Europe and permitting them to act jointly.

If the above were really so, we could proclaim the end of history. Historic gaps would have been filled in with concrete of brotherly love. Then we could take a deep breath and concentrate on the quality of life which would mean tremendous popularity for each political party. A politician daring to say that the world is not completed yet and the hazards are not over would lose a parliamentary election.

The paradox is that both of them are right to some extent and we lack Delphian wisdom to draw an exact line between the two opposites. The temptation to focus only on the environment, the quality of life or on regional policy at the utmost, is tremendous. However, no party shall last longer than its country, even if some politicians in my motherland seem to think so.

In a democratic country, foreign policy objectives are more and more intertwining with internal policy. Hopefully the times when a state identified itself via an enemy, needing an enemy to survive as a state, producing security by blocs against and at the expense of its neighbours, are over. Now it is instability, the illegal traffic in drugs and arms, international terrorism that have become an enemy. The success of the fight against it will depend on how governing the new thinking of the new security age becomes.

The disappearance of nation-states in a uniting Europe has never been on the agenda. On the contrary, the better understanding of the European phenomenon has brought into the limelight the preservation of identity as a significant value, and the preservation of identity requires - what a paradox! - integration. Estonia has its own experience here and I hope that sometime soon Estonia will be able to introduce its experience of the subtle and sensitive balance between identity and integration to the European Union as well.

It has not been said in vain that the largest challenge of the century would be the integration of Eastern Europe into the democratic world. Let's bear in mind that the EU enlargement decision has laid down only preconditions for this. Denmark as every other EU member state has to weigh now if history is really ''ready'', if efforts in the domestic policy are actually sufficient for the security and well-being of the state.

Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to come to the second part of my speech, Estonia's further policy as to European Union and NATO enlargement.

Estonia supports and welcomes the decision of the European Commission to start negotiations with Estonia, Cyprus, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. Estonia has always stressed the need to consider Copenhagen criteria in compiling the avis and in drawing conclusions by the Commission. Having deeply analysed the Avis, Estonia is of the firm opinion that the Avis is a complete, professional and objective assessment of each applicant nation's political and economic performance.

It is the view of Estonia and the Estonian people that the opinion of the Commission is a recognition of the reforms toward European integration since 1991 and motivates the continuation of these reforms.

The content and conclusions of the Avis should serve as a reliable basis for all of the European Union member states when making a final decision on the opening of accession negotiations at the Luxembourg Summit this December.

Estonia regards with great importance the efforts of Member States to turn the expansion process into a continuous process. The Avis is not an end in and of itself. The Avis is but a fixed point from which the integration process continues in earnest. Estonia welcomes that Agenda 2000 provides creating for those left out of the first wave of accession negotiations a clear and confidence inspiring mechanism for their continued support and involvement. In this context, Estonia regards the review process as invaluable and the first review must already take place at some point in 1998.

Estonia sees also advantages in the so-called common start which would preserve high motivation for all applicant countries. There is no doubt that the supporters of this model in the Nordic countries consider unselfishly the interests of all Baltic states and this model has several advantages.

At the same time, it is quite clear that the involvement of one Baltic country on the Copenhagen criteria is an advantage and incentive for all three, and Estonia will continue supporting Latvia and Lithuania throughout the negotiations. It would not be wise to be caught long in arguing about the starting line or its correctness, especially if it would dim the technical aspect of the negotiations. The process should be continuous, creating opportunities for countries whose starting position is not the best to follow the process. We support Latvia and Lithuania in their will to provide Brussels and member states with up-to-date information in order to reflect their situation better. Upon meeting the criteria they should be able to join negotiations without delay. It is important to focus on what is being done to facilitate accession today and in the near future, not on the shortcomings of the past.

Estonia considers the Commission's decision to invite Estonia to begin accession negotiations as a positive signal not only for all the Baltic countries. It means sending not only the Soviet Union but also the ''former Soviet Union'' as a political term or argument as well into the dustbin of history. Estonia has applied this approach in the past when supporting Lithuania in its aspirations to be the first to accede to NATO and acknowledging the admission of Lithuania to the Council of Europe as the first Baltic state.

A political decision will have to be made. Estonia treats the avis as a whole. We do not consider it possible to recognise the contents of the avis and the objectivity of the methodology applied by the Commission and at the same time look for arguments for disagreeing with the 5+1 conclusions by the Commission.

Estonia is really happy that the Commission has made a positive decision about us. But Estonia's success is not really based on the rumours - as I have heard people saying - that due to our proximity to Finland we are simply considered a part of Finland or that Estonia is so small that nobody ever goes there and therefore cannot know the situation. The Commission's assessment and the positive avis would also serve as a confirmation that our political, economic and moral choices in reforms have been sound - regardless of their high price. An attentive reader would notice that nearly all positive achievements mentioned in the avis (e.g. a functioning democratic system; an open economy; free movement of goods; capital and labour; a strong fiscal policy and a strong national currency, meeting CFSP requirements) have been achieved by the Republic of Estonia. Success has been achieved in the fields where it was possible to begin from scratch by establishing institutions and drafting laws, and success was granted by the bold ideological-political choice. Most of the problems referred to in the avis are the heritage of the Soviet system and the command economy. (The requirement to naturalise non- nationals, to complete the land reform, to restructure governmental authorities, environmental issues.) Restructuring the socialist heritage takes longer than building anything new in a capitalist environment.

The Government of Estonia considers the avis as a working task. It has been carefully analysed and a detailed plan is being elaborated to develop areas which need special attention during the pre-accession period. Both the Government and the Parliament are well aware of the need to increase the pace in harmonising legislation (the Riigikogu even convened for an extraordinary session in summer). We are extremely interested that EU directives passed and adapted would have real regulative power as well. Here our concerns with Brussels coincide.

The pace and mechanism of naturalisation of non-nationals is being analysed once more considering carefully the Commission's recommendations in order to speed up the naturalisation process. The latter is a field where we should express our gratitude to Denmark once again both for bilateral assistance in teaching non-nationals the Estonian language and for good work as the OSCE presiding country. The High Commissioner on Human Rights, Max van der Stoel, is a frequent guest in Estonia. We have always taken his recommendations very seriously and nearly all of them off his long list have been met. As a last step we could mention here the recent simplification of the citizenship test. We hope that the Commission's recommendation and the prospect of acceding to the European Union will increase the non-nationals' interest to become naturalised and integrated into Estonian society and Europe. Today the interest is relatively low which has objectively been pointed out in the avis as well.

A priority of the Government of Estonia is to strengthen the government institutions as recommended by the Commission. Prior to the decision made by the Commission, the State Chancellery compiled a plan for improving the qualifications of public officials in European matters. It comprises of a multy- step training programme for all departments.

Estonia shares the understanding that the internal security in the EU and Schengen context means avoiding the transfer of internal problems (refugees, crime, smuggling, etc.) from one country to the others. It means ensuring public order and internal security in your country and a continuous problem-resolution. Estonia is working in this field and is in no way ''an exporter of problems'' in Europe today. In some aspects of the third pillar our success has been recognised all over Eastern Europe and has been reflected in the avis as well - e.g. border control.

Now to NATO.
The accession to the European Union and NATO, into the two remaining organisations would complete the reintegration of Estonia (and other Baltic states) into Europe. The accession would still mean for Estonia participation in two independent but parallel processes. The resolution passed by the European Commission underlines clearly that they are two processes of different speed. The positive evaluation given by the Commission to Estonia demonstrated even further the dependency of Estonian accession into the European Union on its activity and efforts. Upon accession to NATO Estonia's chances to influence the process would be considerably smaller.

The second week of July this year when both the Madrid Declaration and the opinion by the European Commission on enlargement negotiations were finally formulated, has been of paramount importance for Estonia but we do not celebrate as yet.

Estonia is committed to continuing its burgeoning relationship with NATO. Estonia however follows a pragmatic foreign policy with regard to NATO membership. When it became apparent last fall that Estonia realistically would not be involved in the first round of expansion of NATO Estonia's resources were committed toward the goal of integration into the European Union. We were and continue to be convinced that this was the correct policy to follow, even if some of our Baltic neighbours pursued a different policy in this regard.

Estonia has already voiced on several occasions its satisfaction with the Madrid Declaration on Euro-Atlantic Security and Co-operation of July 8, 1997.

The Madrid Declaration guarantees that the door remains open for democratic nations who wish to join. Estonia regards Article 8 as critical. This Article maintains that geography will not be a basis for the exclusion of democratic nations which wish to join NATO. Article 8 also recognises the states of the Baltic region, states that are aspiring members.

We once again wish to recognise Denmark's role in these critical issues.

It is Estonia's undeniable wish to become a full member of NATO and the outcome of the Madrid Summit provides a strong basis for Estonia's future NATO policy.

Another pillar in our preparations is creating Estonian Defence Forces. In October, 1994, Estonia and Denmark along with Finland, Sweden, Norway, Latvia, Lithuania, and the United Kingdom created BALTBAT. In Estonia, the building-up of BALTBAT has been undertaken in parallel with the creation and training of infantry peacekeeping forces which in a Baltic company under the command of a Danish officer take part in the SFOR-mission in Bosnia- Herzegovina.

These above examples are but a small element of the co-operation undertaken between Denmark and Estonia. Estonia regards Danish assistance here as invaluable, and looks forward to the continuation of bilateral and Baltic wide co-operation.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think I do not have to repeat once more: we appreciate most highly Denmark's political and practical support to Estonia. Denmark provides the most comprehensive integration assistance to Estonia of all of the member states of the EU. Co-operation in Tallinn, Copenhagen and Brussels has been excellent. I know that I do not have to prove to you here in this room that this is in our mutual interest, it is in the interest of Europe. Let's prove it together to the rest who tend to know Europe as a bureaucratic jungle of cucumber rules.

 

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