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The President of the Republic at Salzburg met with the Presidents of Austria, Portugal, Latvia and Lithuania27.07.2002
President Arnold Rüütel and Mrs Ingrid Rüütel are in Austria where a meeting of the five Heads of State arrived to this year`s Salzburg Music Festival took place before noon today.
During their meeting, the Presidents of Austria, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia focused on the current and future problems of Europe, the solutions of which, according to Estonian Head of State Arnold Rüütel, only could be born in co-operation between small and big nations. Under discussion were the fight against crime and illegal migration, the necessity to inform the public and to curb bureaucracy in the European Union, but also the development of relations with Russia and Ukraine, and the contacts of the residents of the Kaliningrad Region with their mother country after the Schengen visa regime will have taken effect in Lithuania.
Both the President of Austria, Thomas Klestil, and the President of Portugal, Jorge Sampaio, acknowledged the progress of the Baltic States guaranteeing the admission of these countries to the European Union and NATO in the foreseeable future. Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, speaking about security problems in Europe, noted that combating crime and migration alone was of no help. According to him, the countries where those problems originated were to be helped instead.
Talking the future of the European Union, the Heads of State found that, in the circumstances of cultural and economic integration, the variety of cultures and traditions should be preserved. As stated by Estonian President Arnold Rüütel and Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, the small nations striving to join the European Union were concerned about their national identity in the future union. President Rüütel emphasized that the understanding of the need to preserve peoples` identities should be deepened in the European Union. Our Head of State also deemed it important that countries of different size be treated equally and that they worked together.
The rifts between great and small known from the history are not vanished yet, but we can set an example how to act together, President Rüütel said.
This afternoon, a meeting between the Heads of State of Estonia and Portugal will take place. In the evening, the Presidents and the persons accompanying them will watch the opera Don Giovanni by Mozart. President Arnold Rüütel and Mrs Ingrid Rüütel will fly back to Estonia tomorrow morning.
Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, July 27, 2002
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