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Welcoming Address of the President of the Republic to the Baltic Assembly on December 14, 200114.12.2001
Mr Chairman,
Honourable Members of the Baltic Assembly,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I am very delighted indeed to welcome you in Tallinn.
The Baltic Assembly is very close to my heart. I have been standing at its cradle and experienced the difficulties of its growth. Having been the head of the Riigikogu delegation to the Baltic Assembly for a long time, I can fully understand the importance of the Baltic co-operation and the tasks facing the Baltic Assembly.
In different historical periods, the co-operation between the Baltic States has been different and attitudes towards it have varied. The creation of the Baltic Assembly, and its activities over ten years already, definitely have for the Members of our Parliaments provided a forum for proving their ability to be co-operative.
After regaining our independence we chose the way which would lead us back to the community of European democratic nations. This way has not been easy to walk along but today, our aim is already visible on the horizon. Hereby I mean our accession negotiations with the European Union and preparations to join NATO.
But proceeding with conviction in the direction chosen, we already today have to turn our eyes at the more distant future, regarding the time when all of us have become full members of the European Union and NATO. How to avail ourselves of our good experiences of co-operation in the Baltic Assembly?
I believe that the Baltic Assembly has not by far exhausted all its possibilities, and there is a potential both to keep up existing activities and to find new ways to influence the developments. We could jointly think of how to make the work of the Assembly more efficient and, of how to better ensure the realization of the resolutions made.
I would bring out some areas where, in my view, the Baltic Assembly has excellent chances to join in shaping politics while presenting its authoritative opinions.
All of us - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are candidate countries of the European Union and we hope to be its full members in some years already. I call on you for actively reflecting already now, what kind of a future European Union we would like to see. As is known, representatives of the Parliaments of the countries expecting to be admitted soon will be given the opportunity to participate in the work of the convention preparing the intergovernmental conference of the European Union. On its part, the Baltic Assembly can contribute to that the representatives of our countries could, while participating in the convention, present weighty opinions on shaping European future. I would like to inspire you to actively discuss the European Union as we would like to see it in future.
In my view, co-operation with the Nordic countries, in the first place with the Nordic Council, is a natural sphere of activity of the Baltic Assembly. This is a model of co-operation having already strong traditions. There are more and more premises and reasons for the Nordic and Baltic countries to draw closer. In view of an enlargement of the European Union, a region consolidated by a tight network of co-operation in which parliamentary contacts have to form a significant part, is going to emerge at its northern flank. Here, the Baltic Assembly can continue to play its role as a trailblazer introducing new dimensions into the co-operation between the Baltic and Nordic countries and, if necessary, making proposals to renew or to strengthen it.
I am pleased to tell you that the Baltic Assembly has had very good contacts with the Parliamentary Council of the Benelux Countries. I trust those contacts to continue in the future, intensifying and going to be filled with more substance.
Co-operation in the field of defence between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania has turned out to be one of the most efficient parts of their co-operation. Though all the three Baltic States are expecting in 2002 to be invited to join NATO, the co-operation in the field of defence and security still deserves, in my view, the attention of the Baltic Assembly.
Honourable Members of the Baltic Assembly,
I would like to reaffirm you that I consider the co-operation between the Baltic States to be very vital, and its parliamentary dimension indispensable in the whole framework of co-operation. My present thoughts directed into the future spring from the wish to see the Baltic Assembly as a well-functioning and efficient body of parliamentary co-operation which could find its firm place in the future network of the European co-operation too.
For this, I wish you stamina and success!
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