Home Page “Transatlantic Relations and the Main Regional Security Issues” debate with President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid
“Transatlantic Relations and the Main Regional Security Issues” debate with President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid

On the 5th of May 2021, the Polish Institute of International Affairs (PISM) hosted President of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid. The meeting was co-organized with the Embassy of Estonia in Warsaw and was part of the three-day long visit of Estonia’s head of state to Poland, on the occasion of the 230th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May. The debate, which covered mainly security issues, was moderated by Mr. Slawomir Dębski, the Director of PISM.

Talking on the global power competition President Kaljulaid mentioned, that USA has to pay much more attention to Asia, which brings changes to Central Europe. In the competition between China and USA Estonia and Poland stand with values, which make from U.S. an ally. At the same time, we EU members should take responsibility for their own surrounding. Kaljulaid noted that this process continues, as the rhetoric of Europen Union’s institutions changes. According to Kaljulaid, EU should support Ukraine in the talks with Russia. Ukraine and Georgia might have been invaded by Russia because of their European aspirations. Madame President stressed the necessity to give these countries an European perspective and recommended more political consultations within Eastern Partnership. At the same time, candidate countries to NATO and EU, while trying to fulfil conditions like the rule of law or media freedom, should be ready to use windows of opportunity.




Talking on the Three Seas Initiative (TSI), President Kaljulaid backed the idea of establishing its permanent secretariat. The pandemic, according to madame president, exposed previous trends, considering for example labour market and remote work. This highlights one of TSI priorities: digital dimension of the regional cooperation. This is why Estonia is ready to offer the assistance of Nordic Institute for Interoperability Solutions to TSI to support quicker digitalization including digital ID. Speaking on the fight with the pandemic Covid-19, madame President urged the necessity to use the COVAX in providing vaccines to non-EU states like Ukraine or Georgia, linking the mechanism with the exposure of European values. During her speech President Kaljulaid raised among other issues related to artificial intelligence, which is also applied to military science, underlined changes to our planet and spoke in favour of making use of values.