Foreign Minister Urmas Paet spoke to his Dutch, Belgian, Luxembourgish, Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues about European Union development during a meeting in Vilnius. Foreign Minister Paet stated that Estonia desires the development of a strong and wide-reaching European Union foreign service. “Estonia is interested in the European Union’s foreign service being able to function more productively and effectively in all of Europe’s foreign policy fields. The visibility and added value of the European Union’s foreign service would also be increased by adding consular protection functions,” Paet emphasised. Foreign Minister Paet added that it is also important to ensure that diplomats from all member states will be represented in the European Union foreign service right from the initial stages.
The foreign ministers also addressed the European security situation at the meeting. Foreign Minister Paet emphasised that the preparation of the NATO strategic concept also plays a role in European Union security issues. Foreign Minister Urmas Paet stated that working out the new NATO strategic concept must increase the unity of the alliance. “The new strategic concept must be based on the principle of collective defence, and it must clearly represent NATO’s visibility, trustworthiness, and abilities,” said Paet. Foreign Minister Urmas Paet also asserted how important close co-operation between the EU and NATO is.
In speaking about issues related to European Union enlargement, the foreign ministers expressed their satisfaction that new chapters were finally opened in the accession negotiations with Croatia so that negotiations can continue.
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