The Riigikogu Foreign Affairs Committee is looking forward to a bold enlargement decision from NATO
At today’s joint meeting of the Riigikogu Foreign Affairs Committee and National Defence Committee the representatives of the committees found that Estonia should make a positive decision for the candidate countries at the NATO Summit in Bucharest.
According to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Sven Mikser, Estonia should support giving accession invitation to the three so-called Adriatic Group countries Croatia, Macedonia and Albania in Bucharest. “All three candidate countries have done a lot of work to become members of NATO and their accession to the alliance is an important step in developing the security system that would cover the whole transatlantic space,” Mikser said.
According to Mikser the Foreign Affairs Committee is of the opinion that the Bucharest Summit should give a positive message regarding the issue of NATO integration also to Georgia and Ukraine. “Giving the membership action plan or MAP to Georgia and Ukraine must depend only on the political will and military and political readiness of those countries. Putting up additional artificial obstacles to them by NATO member states would be a mistake,” Mikser thought.
At today’s joint meeting of the committees Minister of Defence Jaak Aaviksoo gave an overview of Estonia’s positions at the unofficial meeting of NATO ministers of defence in Vilnius on 7–8 February and preparations for the NATO Summit in Bucharest on 2–4 April. Estonia’s participation in foreign missions, including the possible extension of the mission to Afghanistan, and Estonia’s standpoints on the further enlargement of NATO and developing its defence capability were discussed. Cyber defence and the building of NATO missile defence system in Europe, as well as the meetings taking place in the NATO-Russia Council and the NATO-Ukraine Council were also discussed. The meeting took place on the initiative of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Riigikogu Press Service