Speaker of Hungarian parliament visits Estonia
President of the Riigikogu Eiki Nestor (SDE) met with his Hungarian counterpart, Speaker of the National Assembly László Kövér in Tallinn on Tuesday. They discussed the security of the region and the advantages of e-services as well as bilateral relations. Kövér also met with President Kersti Kaljulaid.
Nestor introduced his Hungarian colleague to the Estonian e-elections, and the convenience of the country’s e-services. According to Nestor, the great popularity of e-services shows people’s confidence in the state and the security of services. “Estonia is a country that believes in the Internet,” Nestor said.
Bilateral relations were “brotherly”, and cooperation between the two countries working excellently both at the level of the European Union and NATO.
Nestor thanked Hungary for its contribution to security in the region. Hungary will send a motorised infantry company to Estonia this summer, and is planning to participate again in NATO’s Baltic air policing mission in 2019.
Kövér assured Nestor that the Hungarians were very well aware of Estonia’s geopolitical location and concerns about its neighbour. He promised to do his utmost for Hungary to continue to participate ensuring common security also in the future.
Kövér also met with President Kersti Kaljulaid later in the evening. According to a social media post of the president, she told the Hungarian speaker that Estonia considered common values, open government, and transparency to be important pillars of the European Union.
Hungary has lately faced plenty of criticism for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s increasingly authoritarian and nationalist politics, its treatment of refugees and Roma, its treatment of the arts and the courts, and most recently a new law that directly aims at closing a specific university.
Editor: Dario Cavegn