| | ‘Estonia and Croatia: Partners across Europe’
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear friends,
To begin let me thank the Institute for International Relations and the Diplomatic Academy for hosting this event. I am extremely pleased to be in Croatia.
The main theme of my talk today is partnership.
Partnership is a topic that has been mentioned many times in the past weeks. And it is definitely a subject that we will return to repeatedly as we assess and adjust to the new reality in Europe.
The fact is that the situation on our continent has changed following Russia’s actions against Georgia. Regrettably – this change is not in accordance with our core values and principles.
What happened in Georgia happened in the Europe Union’s immediate neighborhood, just on the other side of the Union’s external border. It holds important lessons for all of us.
It is clear that we cannot go on as before. We have to look at the state of European cooperation and security and where we are heading. We have to figure out how to prevent future conflicts. We have to re-examine our partnerships and what they are founded on.
For a partnership to work, there must common values. Partners must have the same understanding of core principles such as democracy, the rule of law and territorial integrity. There must also be unity and trust.
There is no doubt that this is the kind of partnership that exists between Estonia and Croatia. Indeed, ties between Estonia and Croatia are strong on many fronts.
Political relations between Estonia and Croatia are in excellent shape as underlined by our regular political dialogue and the number of visits between our two countries.
Our economic relations are also good, although in this field there are still many unexplored possibilities. In recent years, Croatia’s economic performance has been truly impressive. You offer many exciting business and investment opportunities. I am, therefore, optimistic that in the future our bilateral trade and investment figures will improve.
Tourism, in particular, is a field with significant potential. Indeed, Croatia is already a popular tourist destination among Estonians. Your country’s favourable Mediterranean climate is one the main reasons why Estonians like to vacation here. But your rich culture and history also play a role. The number of Estonian tourists visiting Croatia each year is quite significant and I am quite sure that this trend will continue to grow even further in the coming years.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The main lesson that can be learned from all of this is that strong bilateral relations do not necessarily have to be underpinned by geographic proximity. Estonia and Croatia are far away from each other. And yet we are close partners who share common values as well as interests.
Both Estonia and Croatia understand the need to generate security, not just consume it. We are active contributors to the NATO-led ISAF operation in Afghanistan. And soon we will be members of the same security alliance.
Let me hereby congratulate you on the Bucharest Summit’s decision to issue Croatia with a membership invitation. The decision to enlarge NATO was clearly one of the most important decisions taken in Bucharest. Some lose ends, however, remain, including granting Membership Action Plans to Ukraine and Georgia. We should do so as soon as possible.
The world is watching NATO. The world is watching to see how our partnership founded on common values and beliefs responds to the altered situation in Europe. To me, it is clear that we must deliver a unified response. NATO’s anniversary summit next year must deliver practical results and concrete agreements on issues of key importance for NATO.
Let me now turn to another important partnership – the European Union.
As a strong and consistent supporter of further EU enlargement, Estonia is looking forward to Croatia’s accession. We also look forward to other countries - that share European values and meet the accession criteria - joining the Union.
The EU membership perspective was a powerful incentive for stimulating reform in Central and Eastern European countries, including Estonia. And now we should let it have the same effect in other countries and regions of Europe.
We also support enlargement because we believe in its ability to stimulate economic growth and trade within the European Union.
And thirdly, we believe that enlargement will help make the European Union stronger and more competitive on the global stage.
In our view, EU enlargement is a force for good, not something to be feared or postponed for as long as possible. We believe that rather than focusing on defining its borders, the European Union should concentrate on making use of the opportunities and benefits that enlargement has to offer. The goal of EU membership has helped drive forward positive change throughout the European continent and should be allowed to continue to do so.
As a country that spent ten years intensively preparing for EU membership, Estonia understands and appreciates the work that Croatia is doing to join the European Union. Believe me - we know what you are going through, having only recently gone through the process ourselves.
On our way into the European Union, we too overhauled our economy and society. We too made some tough sacrifices and faced some rocky moments in our accession negotiations. But at the end, it was worth the effort.
Croatia has made impressive progress and is firmly on track to becoming an EU member. It is still too early to say when exactly this will happen. But we know that it will happen soon. We also know that once you are in you will serve as a beacon to other European countries with their eye on EU membership, in this region and beyond.
As you know, there are a number of countries to the east of the EU’s existing borders who are also eager for closer relations with the European Union. Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia have all expressed an interest in a closer partnership with the European Union.
On the EU side, the willingness to reach out to these countries exists. At last week’s extraordinary European Council, we decided to strengthen the so-called Eastern Dimension of the European Neighbourhood Policy. We also sent Georgia a clear political message of solidarity and confirmed our readiness to strengthen EU-Georgia relations. The European Union acted with resolve and unity.
Of course, unity is not the same as unanimity. Indeed, there are twenty-seven member states in the European Union and not all of them necessarily think in exactly the same way. Not all of them think exactly like Estonia!
But just because member states don’t have identical positions, doesn’t mean that common positions can’t be and aren’t reached. They are reached all the time, on all topics. They are reached because member states are willing to compromise. Indeed, belonging to the EU is all about making compromises and accepting that not all decisions are going to be to your liking. To my mind, this willingness to compromise for the sake of unity and solidarity is what makes the European Union so unique among multilateral organizations. It is also what makes the European Union so successful.
Of course, the European Union is far from perfect. There are problems and set backs, not to mention the occasional internal crisis. Things don’t always go according to planning. But we should never lose sight of the fact that the European Union is a great political and economic force. It is a powerful partnership of countries who share common European values.
Soon Croatia too will be part of this extraordinary partnership. Soon we will not only be partners across Europe but also within it.
Finally, I would like to mention another special partnership – the transatlantic partnership that exists between Europe and the United States of America. In the wake of Russia’s aggression against Georgia, this partnership is more relevant than ever.
The fact is that when Europe and the United States think alike and act together, then things happen. We need to overcome past differences and work together to rebuild Georgia and assist and reassure other new democracies in Eastern Europe who are concerned about their security and independence. More importantly, we need to work together to uphold the common values and convictions that we believe in.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are facing the most challenging situation since the end of the Cold War – and the challenges are increasing. The only way that we can face these challenges is by ensuring that these partnerships – our partnerships – remain strong and united in the future. The only way that we can face them is by working together. This is a time when – more than ever – countries need partners with whom they share common values and interests. For Estonia, Croatia is exactly this kind of partner.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.
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