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President Ilves at the Globsec Security Forum: Europe must start taking its safety seriously
19.04.2013
President Toomas Hendrik Ilves in Bratislava today told a panel discussion focusing on the future of Europe at the Globsec Global Security Forum that we need a more explicit common understanding of what we see and understand as Europe: "If someone is asking for "more Europe", we should know exactly what we mean when we speak of "Europe"."
The Estonian Head of State reminded those present that last week the final United States of America tank left Europe, which will mean more security-related responsibilities and liabilities for Europe.
"We must start taking our security seriously and think and decide about what we should do next. Threats have not disappeared from the world. We must grow up and also shape, apart from the economy, the future of security in Europe. Otherwise, we may find ourselves in a bad situation," President Ilves warned.
Europe must also take the rules and standards it has established more seriously, he emphasised, as currently there are apparent contradictions between the agreed and solidarity, which are applicable despite non-compliance with agreements.
"We must agree, more explicitly, on which rules we should really observe altogether. Should we fail to do that, even Europe may prove too small for the world," said the Estonian Head of State.
"If we merge the voices of the four Visegrad states, the three Baltic states and the Nordic countries, we will end up with a very powerful force to support issues that are important for us in Europe – the expansion of the European Union, eastern partnership and strong Trans-Atlantic relations. We need closer political co-operation to make our voices heard," told President Ilves.
The Estonian Head of State gave a presentation at the Globsec Global Security Forum with the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy, Franco Frattini; Director of the European think tank, Centre for European Reform, Charles Grant; Vice President of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič; and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Miroslav Lajčák.
Today, President Ilves will also address cyber defence issues at the official Globsec dinner.
The three-day Globsec forum will bring together the most important shapers of public opinion in European foreign and security policy, politicians and think-tank representatives and is the most representative security forum in Europe.
Website of the Security Forum Globsec: http://www.globsec.org/globsec2013/
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