Estonia took over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union on Saturday, 1 July 2017, 6 months earlier than initially scheduled, following the Brexit vote that forced the UK to pull out of its turn and to focus instead on negotiating the country’s exit from the Brussels club.
Days into its presidency, the Baltic country is torn by government conflicts and the possibility to be rules by a minority government or to even face its collapse and a call for new elections.
And while such a scenario will not be a precedent, as a no-confidence vote brought down the Czech government halfway through its EU presidency in 2009, Estonia’s Prime Minister, Juri Ratas, who at 39 is the EU’s youngest premier, assured its EU partners that “the ruling coalition is stable and very serious about the EU presidency” and over-confirmed his words from the Berlin meeting: “During our Presidency, our overarching goal will be to retain cohesion and unity within the EU.”
And Estonia’s role would be, indeed, focused on “building a secure future for all Europeans”, with the main priorities during its six-month presidency: to ensure security and protection by strengthening the fight against terrorism and crime and continuing the work on the migration crisis; to promote an inclusive and sustainable Europe; to facilitate an open and innovative economy and society making steps ahead in digitalisation and free flow of data.
And when it comes to digitalisation, who does it better than Estonia? The country has been declared as one of the most technologically advanced societies in the world, having secured its first place in the digitisation index of the EU Report, and a leader in the field of e-government and electronic public services.
Estonia would most certainly take further the framework of digital services and the digital aspects of all EU policies under its Presidency, yet facing the biggest challenges of the unfinished Copyright Reform legislation, the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, and a call for ePrivacy Regulation to guarantee the highest level of protection of confidentiality in all electronic communications services.
The Estonian Presidency is encouraged to fully implement the Paris Agreement and to lead the global transition to clean energy, pushing ahead the European Commission’s Clean Energy For All Europeans package. But there is also the Nord Stream 2 project, the Russian gas pipeline across the Baltic Sea to Germany, where Estonia will ask for a broad mandate to discuss all imports of gas from Russia and face many possible disagreements as the matter is hugely sensitive for some Member States, and the economic sanctions against Russia are extended for another six months.
As president, Estonia might also face serious disagreements over the incorporation of asylum seekers into Europe, following the last European Council meeting where EU heads of state and government did not succeed in reaching an agreement on the reform of the Common European Asylum System.
Estonia’s Presidency comes at a crucial time in Europe – migrant crisis, terrorist threat, UK to negotiate its way out of the EU, Russia’s attempts to influence EU policies, upcoming federal election in Germany, and as Matti Maasikas, Estonia’s deputy minister for EU affairs stated: “When we look back to this in a couple of years time, maybe 2017 was the darkest before the dawn….For the EU, there is now the need to earn and re-earn the legitimacy from our citizens. The need is greater than ever.”
The motto of the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union is ‘Unity through balance’ and Estonia will seek to find a balance between the different interests in Europe and to achieve the best possible outcome for all EU citizens.
Want to learn why Estonia is a little different than most countries? Read our article -> What Makes Estonia Different from Other Nations.
