Ansip: Estonia should continue on its course
Former Estonian prime minister and current European Commissioner for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip said at the president’s Independence Day reception on Friday that Estonia’s reputation in Brussels was very good, and that the country should continue on its current course.
Ansip confirmed in an interview with ERR that the new government under Center Party prime minister Jüri Ratas had not changed this reputation in Brussels. He also pointed out that the country was well-respected in terms of its NATO membership. “Lately there has been a lot of talk about defense spending, and Estonia has stood out for being one of five NATO countries that meets the requirements it agreed to and spends more than 2 percent of GDP on national defense,” Ansip said.
“Estonia’s image as an e-state might be even stronger than the e-state we actually have here. The change of government hasn’t affected this in any way. So Estonia is looking very good seen from Brussels,” Ansip added.
According to the commissioner, Estonia needs to remain on its present course. “We need to be hard-working, do good, stand up for our principles. As Estonia will soon have to fill its role as the presiding country [on the Council of the European Union], the flexibility that has always characterized it will help here as well. Our strengths are well-known, but we still have to develop all those sides that are already strongly developed, and really make an effort where there are opportunities to do things even better,” Ansip said.
He added that Estonia was known as a developer of digital public services, and within the European Union ahead of everyone else. At the same time, Ansip finds that the digitization hasn’t developed as much as it could. “If we want to go on developing Estonia further, then businesses have to turn their attention to the digitization of the industry more than anything else,” he said.
Editor: Dario Cavegn