NordenBladet —
“The border states of the European Union and NATO Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland are well aware of what authoritarian regimes in Russia and Belarus are capable of. Our borders are under hybrid pressure. Besides the organised threat of illegal migration, the smuggling of prohibited good is also attempted. We need to rapidly exchange information, coordinate activities, be ready to act decisively and help each other. Putin’s regime does not tolerate our values-based cooperation,” Tali said. “Protection of external borders and strengthening the administration relating to it is necessary in the whole European Union, and it is important to pay attention also to financing of the new solutions and construction of the infrastructure needed for that.”
Tali said that the meeting would focus on energy security, because in the war against Ukraine, Russia had used energy as a hybrid weapon on the geopolitical chessboard both against Ukraine and Europe, and this was the reason it was important to ensure the security of the energy system and achieve energy independence from Russia.
The meeting will begin today afternoon with visits to the Lithuanian-Belarusian border and the Energy Cells battery park in Vilnius, and continue with an exchange of views on the draft programme of the Meeting of the Chairpersons of the Conference of Parliamentary Committees for Union Affairs of Parliaments of the European Union (COSAC) taking place at the end of October.
On Monday, the meeting will continue with discussions on the challenges at the external borders of the EU Member States, and on energy security. At 12.30 p.m., the Chairs of the European Union Affairs Committees of the parliaments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland plan to give a press conference that will be livestreamed on the web page of the Parliament of Lithuania.
Riigikogu Press Service
Merilin Kruuse
+372 631 6592; +372 510 6179
merilin.kruuse@riigikogu.ee
Questions: press@riigikogu.ee
Link uudisele: Tali discusses situation on EU external borders and energy security with Baltic and Polish colleagues
Source: Parliament of Estonia