Article 05-07-2017 - 10:24 Reference No: 20170627STO78427

Digitalisation and defence: Estonian MEPs discuss priorities upcoming presidency

Estonia took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July. All six Estonian MEPs share their views on the priorities and challenges.

Estonian prime minister Jüri Ratas will present his country's priorities to MEPs during the plenary session in Strasbourg on Wednesday 5 July. Estonia has promised to focus on four priorities: an open an innovative economy, a safe and secure Europe, a digital Europe, and an inclusive and sustainable Europe. The six Estonian MEPs, who belong to four different political groups, agree that the priorities of their country's Council presidency will be creating a real digital single market and boosting European cooperation on defence and security.

Tunne Kelam (EPP)

Tunne Kelam said a successful presidency meant having to get 27 different governments to support agreements based on the EU's common interests. “This challenge will test the quality of Estonian officials and leading politicians,” he said.

The priorities would be to create a common approach on security and defence policy, overcome countries' hesitations when it came to assessing Russia's aggression and work on the EU's eastern neighbourhood policy, Kelam said. He also said progress on the digital single market and the implementation of the common energy policy would be important.

The MEP also underlined the need to cut red tape: “On the governmental level the presidency should create conditions for carrying out the European Commission’s deregulation programme that has to run in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity. The programme would make life easier in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises."

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Marju Lauristin (S&D)

The digital economy was named as a priority by Marju Lauristin: “Expanding digital society is certainly one of the priorities for the Estonian presidency. We have many times been declared leader in the field and this means that we have an obligation to finalise as many digital files as possible."

She also referred to relations with neighbouring countries: "The Eastern Partnership is definitely another priority for the presidency. We are responsible for the part of Europe that is not yet fully free and democratic.”

Yana Toom (ALDE)

Yana Toom said she hoped the presidency would promote the cross-border use of digital public services. “The Estonian e-government system is praised for its openness and trust,” she said. "The focus will also be on the development of cross-border e-commerce."

The MEP said the review of the audio-visual media services directive could prove challenging during negotiations between the Council, the Commission and the Parliament: "This piece of legislation is rather controversial and Estonia still has an opportunity to address the outrageous weaknesses of the text, such as inappropriate extension of the scope of the directive to social media."

Kaja Kallas (ALDE)

Digital society will make up an important part of the presidency, said Kaja Kallas. “Digital society is undisputedly our biggest work and advantage. This means that expectations for the Estonian presidency in that field are very high. Many negotiations over draft law related with the digital single market reach the final stage during our presidency."

She added: “Unfortunately, in many countries technological revolution is more and more linked with fears and contradictions. Estonia has therefore a chance to show that digitalisation is a driving force that brings benefits for both citizens and businesses."

Urmas Paet (ALDE)

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According to Urmas Paet the main topics of the presidency will be “defence cooperation, digital Europe and free movement of data, and Brexit negotiations that can’t be avoided”.

Paet, who is responsible for writing a report on the European defence union, stressed the importance on cooperating on defence: “As a rapporteur on the European defence union, it is especially important for me that Estonia stands for Europe that will look more after its own security. For this purpose, the member states need to enhance their defence cooperation and raise their defence spending at least to a level of 2% of their GDP."

Indrek Tarand (Greens/EFA)

Indrek Tarand praised his country's approach to the upcoming presidency: “When Matti Maasikas, Estonia’s special representative to the EU institutions, presented presidency topics at the conference of committee chairs he said: 'We like to underpromise and overdeliver'. I approve this tactical approach and believe that Estonia has the capability to perform in some cases as a rational compromise-builder."

Tarand warned against underestimating the difficulties involved: "We know too well: we choose the topics, life brings us challenges. These challenges are unpredictable and dealing with them might not depend from the rotating presidency. I will deliberately not mention these two or three critical challenges where Estonia might need to take a leading role for finding the solution. However, I can promise - when these risks materialise - I will definitely help,"

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