Prime Minister Jüri Ratas and his Portuguese colleague António Costa discussed the current affairs of the EU Presidency

Nov 10
Created: 10 November 2017

Prime Minister Jüri Ratas and his Portuguese colleague António Costa mainly discussed the current situation of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and matters where reaching an agreement between 28 Member States is complicated. 

“The European Union must simultaneously deal with long-term strategic issues, such as technological development, energy security, climate change, or old and new threats around Europe, and offer faster, more tangible changes that improve the everyday lives of people. 

For example, we need to agree on how to prohibit restricting access to products and services in e-shops and obligate them to recognise all payment methods to make competition fairer and provide a wider selection of choices,” Prime Minister Ratas said.

The expected launch of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) during the Estonian Presidency, migration, and contributions to the EU Trust Fund for Africa were also discussed. According to Prime Minister Ratas, it is vital to maintain the unity of the Member States in the discussions and to avoid a multi-speed Europe.

Even though less than two months remain until the end of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the EU, Prime Minister Ratas says that several important summits are still ahead: the Social Summit in Gothenburg next week, as well as Eastern Partnership Summit in Brussels and the EU-Africa Summit in the second half of November. The latter will focus on digital development, e-Government, and job creation. The Euro Summit will take place in December, where Estonia will prioritise strengthening the economic and monetary union and implementing the banking union. The meeting of the European Council, where summaries of the Presidency will be made, will also take place in December.

Prime Ministers Ratas and Costa admitted that the relations between Estonia and Portugal are friendly, but there is plenty of room for development in trade. The cooperation between the two countries in the EU and NATO is going well and Ratas confirms that he values the contribution of Portugal to the security of the Baltic region. 100 Portuguese soldiers are currently in Lithuania; Portugal has also participated in NATO’s air policing missions. Ratas emphasised that Estonia has also directed their attention in NATO to the unstable situation in Northern Africa and the Middle East as well as to fighting terrorism.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Ratas expressed hopes that Portugal would re-open an embassy in Tallinn. Currently, the nearest Portuguese embassy is in Helsinki. For the duration of the Presidency, Portugal has sent a diplomat to Estonia.

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